silver

Dell CEO said to mull Blackstone buyout only with CEO assurance

It was assumed just a couple of months ago that Dell would go private with a $24.4 billion buyout under founder and CEO Michael Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake.

But several wrenches have been thrown into that plan.

Dell confirmed earlier this week that it had two possibly "superior" buyout bids, one coming from activist investor Carl Icahn and the other from private equity firm Blackstone. This means that if one of these two other potential bidders gets the prize, there could be a monumental power shift in the company.

Michael Dell is allegedly now … Read more

Blackstone, Icahn to make offers to buy Dell -- reports

Asset-management firm Blackstone Group has reportedly submitted a tentative offer to buy Dell, rivaling a $24.4 billion offer from founder Michael Dell and investment firm Silver Lake, which was announced last month.

Both Bloomberg and The New York Times are citing unnamed insiders in reporting the preliminary deal proposal, which, Bloomberg said, will commit Blackstone to hold takeover discussions with Dell. The letter was reportedly sent last night, and, Bloomberg said, Dell has till Tuesday to respond.

Details of the proposal were not available, and it's not known if Dell will go along. Bloomberg said Blackstone wouldn't … Read more

Dell buyout could be impeded by possible Blackstone bid

Blackstone is reportedly looking to get its hands on Dell before the Silver Lake and Michael Dell $24.4 billion buyout is complete.

According to Bloomberg, the asset management firm is supposedly considering a bid that could out-do what Silver Lake offered for the Dell acquisition. People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Blackstone has not yet made a decision and that it may bid as part of a group of investors. Reportedly, Blackstone has already reviewed Dell's finances after signing a non-disclosure agreement.

Dell announced in February that it had plans to take the company private via … Read more

Statistics wizard Nate Silver gives his Oscar predictions

With great precision FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver predicted which states President Obama would win in his second-term election. Now he is applying his statistical-analysis methods to predicting who will take home the Oscars on Sunday.

Silver has made Oscar predictions in the past, but with only 75 percent accuracy. By comparison, he picked all 50 state winners in the 2012 presidential election. Silver refined his Oscar prediction models this year by assigning weights to the glut of movie awards that precede the Oscars, similar to how he weighted the various polls in calculating his election predictions. Silver explained:

These patterns … Read more

Could Dell boost its takeout bid by 10 percent to $15 a share?

Dell's plans to go private haven't pleased all of its shareholders, but investment banking firm Jefferies believes the PC maker could win them over with a sweetened bid.

The firm says it's likely that Dell CEO and founder Michael Dell and partner Silver Lake, a private equity firm, will raise Dell's takeout bid by nearly 10 percent to $15 a share to "satisfy agitated shareholders."

"Our conversations with investors lead us to believe that most want a raised bid, but that they are also cognizant of the lack of competing bidders and of … Read more

Why going private is a good thing for Dell

In October 2011, I managed to annoy Michael Dell.

It was shortly after Steve Jobs died, and I sat with Dell for a 30-minute talk at the company's home in Round Rock, Texas. I was a reporter for Dow Jones at the time.

The interview had nearly ended, and Dell was on his way out the door when I asked the question, "Michael, is there anything you learned from Steve Jobs and his time at Apple that you can apply to Dell?"

He paused thoughtfully and then said that he'd met Jobs while in college and … Read more

5 consequences of Dell's $24.4 billion deal to go private

Dell's $24.4 billion deal to go private is a sign of the times. The PC market is collapsing, Microsoft is trying to save it, and the IPO isn't what it used to be.

The company is about to get a major transformation. Once the deal is completed (with a $2 billion loan from Microsoft as part of the financing), it will be owned by Silver Lake Partners and Dell founder Michael Dell. But what exactly does going private mean for the company? What impact will it have on the markets?

Here are a few potential consequences of … Read more

For Dell, lessons from Microsoft's Nokia deal

One of the worst-kept secrets in Microsoft's investment history is no longer a "secret." Today, Microsoft made a $2 billion loan to one of its largest PC OEMs, Dell, as part of Dell's move to go private.

Microsoft does not own part of Dell as part of this transaction. However, the situation reminds me of another major Microsoft "investment": The billions it paid to Nokia almost exactly two years ago to help rescue a company teetering on the edge of a "burning platform."

At the time of the February 2011 Nokia … Read more

It's official: Dell's going private in $24.4B deal

Dell will be taken private for $24.4 billion, or $13.65 a share, in a transaction announced today that will allow the company to try to turn itself around without the pressure of shareholder expectations.

Founder and CEO Michael Dell, who owns about 14 percent of Dell's common shares, teamed up with Silver Lake Partners to acquire the company. Microsoft is also kicking in a $2 billion loan.

The deal, which is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval, should be wrapped up before the close of Dell's fiscal second quarter, which ends in July. Following completion of … Read more