Back in September, Dell announced that it would be going private after shareholders approved a $25 billion deal offered by founder Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners. Tuesday, that deal closed, which means Dell is officially a privately-owned company once more. The company announced this morning that the ‘go-private transaction’ was complete. Dell will delist from the Nasdaq after close-of-trading on Tuesday.
“Today, Dell enters an exciting new chapter as a private enterprise,” said Michael Dell. “Our 110,000 team members worldwide are 100 percent focused on our customers and aggressively executing our long-term strategy for their benefit.”
Under the terms of the agreed upon deal, stockholders will receive $13.75 per share of common stock plus a cash dividend of $0.13 per share for a total of $13.88 per share. In addition, there’s also a guaranteed third quarter dividend of $0.08 per share that will be paid at or before closing. The total transaction is valued at approximately $24.9 billion.
Michael Dell last month said that Dell will continue to expand its enterprise solutions and services business. Right now, the company’s bread and butter is PC sales, but it’s hoping to shift some of its focus away from the PC and mobile markets and focus more on the enterprise segment. Going private gives Dell the room to shake things up and make some really bold moves without shareholder scrutiny.
Dell was founded in 1984 while Michael Dell was a student the University of Texas. The company was run out of his dorm room and sold PCs built from stock parts directly to consumers.
