Dell Said to Be in Buyout Talks With Private-Equity Firms

[onehandle]

Source: Bloomberg News

Dell Inc. (DELL), the personal-computer maker that lost almost a third of its value last year, is in buyout talks with private-equity firms, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The shares surged.

The company is discussing going private with at least two firms, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. The discussions are preliminary and could fall apart because firms may not be able to line up the needed financing or resolve how to exit the investment in the future, the people said.

Several large banks have been contacted about financing an offer, one of the people said. The computer maker had a market value of $18.9 billion as of Jan. 11.

Taking the company private could help Dell, the third- largest PC maker, accelerate efforts to revive growth and cope with competition without quarter-by-quarter scrutiny from public shareholders. Chief Executive Officer Michael Dell, 47, has been using acquisitions to sell more products to businesses as consumers shun PCs in favor of tablets and smartphones, including devices that run Apple Inc. and Google Inc. software.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-14/dell-is-said-be-in-buyout-discussions-with-private-equity-firms.html

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Michael Dell in 1997 upon Steve Jobs' return to Apple:

“I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.”

[thelordofhell]

1. Dell employee's better start punching up their resumes and cashing out pensions

They're about to be "Romney'd"

[RKP5637]

4. +1, yep, been through that at a couple of other companies. n/t

[adieu]

2. It would be delicious irony

if Apple had an investment arm that was part of the private equity buy-out.

[tularetom]

3. I'm actually amazed they got away with making crap as long as they have.

[Stringfellow Hawke]

5. Dell is crap (I am typing one)

and the laptop feels friggin hot, and I bought that thing from my BIL for $100 (i3 core)

[plethoro]

6. Not for me. I've got a Dell Dimension 5150 that I have had

for years and years. It still works perfect. I'll probably buy another Dell. I would never buy a Hewlett Crapper. I don't follow them like I used to. I buy everything at Amazon, so whatever they have.

[naaman fletcher]

9. I'm typing on a Mac

I had about 10 dells. 9th was a piece of shit. I paid up for a "high end one" which was just as much of a piece of shit. So I switched to Mac.

[dlwickham]

7. my mom has had like 3 Dell computers

each one worse than the other

horrible products and customer service sucks

[liberal N proud]

8. Equity firm signals the end for DELL

Kiss it all goodbye!

[progree]

10. Years and years ago Dell was #1 or #2 in reliability and service rankings. Now around the bottom

I've been reading PC Magazine and PC World and Consumer Reports for years. I got a Dell in 2000 and it was wonderful, back when they were highly ranked, never needed to open the case, served me well for more than 10 years. Would have loved to order another, but year after year their ranking in PC Magazine and PC World survey of readers fell and fell ... I started reading Consumer Reports 5 years ago and they've consistently had Dell around the bottom along with Hewlett Packard and Gateway.

[Kolesar]

11. So, who is at the top?

I am in the market. I like HP's prices much better. My Compaq was ok, except the hard drive failed after six years.

[liberal N proud]

12. For quality, I would look at HP

For price, still Dell at least until they are gone.

Avoid Compaq, I have not had luck with them.

[madrchsod]

14. i have always used hp`s until my kids bought me a dell

the last hp i used lasted 5 years before it quit.

[Kolesar]

19. The Dells at my company's preferential pricing were no bargain

A dual core PC for $760
I just priced an HP quad core for under $600

[onehandle]

15. Apple, of course.

Consumer Reports: Apple still tops in reliability

http://www.zdnet.com/consumer-reports-apple-still-tops-in-reliability-7000007770

Their customer service is at the top as well. If you are anywhere near an Apple Store, you have the best over the counter free help.

[Kolesar]

18. 28 years of consumerism, and I have not yet purchased an Apple product

Not even a song at iTunes. I perused the Apple store here in the valley of the billionaires. They wanted me to pay for stuff to entertain myself.

[sofa king]

21. That was a long time ago.

Ever since the Great Exploding Capacitor Fiasco, Dell transformed into a bottom-feeder supplier that was far better at concealing its unreliability than it was at actually delivering reliability.

I watched an entire, entirely deserving, University gut its IT department with the bright idea to stop replacing its lineup of shitty Dell computers and instead move to a virtualized environment, using the Dell systems as the thin clients.

The problem, of course, is that all the shitty Dells had the cheapest integrated graphics money could buy, and were unable to display a virtualized desktop at anything other than slide-show framerates.

They did it anyway, and now nothing gets done there.

[madrchsod]

13. i`m using a three year old dell desktop and it`s never failed

[Amonester]

16. I'm using a two year old Dell gaming laptop with an integrated Nvidia GPU and it's quite

good (enough for me), has a i7 blaster, a JBL woofer for awesome bass tones (for a laptop), a metallic case that acts like a heat sink (as opposed to plastic ones that act like heat retainers), and a fan hole on the side (contrary to fan holes built under...).

Prior to that, I had an HP laptop that wasn't a factory-ordered gaming one. It was horribly slow and the excessive heat blew up the CPU after less than a year and a half (after the warranty was expired)!

[Kolesar]

17. That was insightful!

An aluminum case makes a lot of sense. Plastic is way cheaper to mold, though.

[onehandle]

20. Whatever you do, don't go to an Apple Store and pick up a MacBook of any sort.

No other notebook will ever feel as solid and just right, in your hands.