Michael Dell to buy his company back

[Glenn]

Michael Dell has said that he will buy back the world's number three PC manufacturer that he founded and that carries his name for $24.4bn (£15.5bn).

Mr Dell, together with technology private equity investor, Silver Lake, will offer $13.65 cash per share.

The firm said it offered a 25% premium over the Dell's valuation in January when rumours of the deal first broke.

The buy-out of the Nasdaq-listed firm will be financed by loans from four banks, and a $2bn loan from Microsoft.

Mr Dell, who is also chief executive and chairman of the firm, already owns about 14% of the company. He and fellow senior executives will retain their existing stakes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21342632

[Clive]

I have to say that Mrs Clive's Dell is much better built than my Asus which feels a bit flimsy.

[Simon]

I've never had a Dell myself, but I know people that have, and they've had no problems that they've not caused themselves! 

[pctech]

Not really surprised at this news, there are many competitors that can build a PC will well known rather than obscure branded components for the same or cheaper backed by better support.

I do know this as I've experienced others versus Dell and the likes of Scan and even Mesh leave Dell behind.

I don't doubt that when Michael Dell started a company building PCs while at Uni he had the best intentions to create a quality product backed by excellent service.

However my own experience which was admittedly around 7 years ago now when trying to buy one of their then flagship XPS gaming systems, receiving it damaged, trying to get it replaced while they tried to fob me off and then waiting for several replacements that did not show up was an exercise in frustration and wasted Annual Leave.

[Technical Ben]

All those loans from banks and MS given to one guy? What could possibly go wrong? 

[pctech]

I suspect several strings will have been attached to Microsoft's contribution as it wouldn't be opening its cheque book if it didn't stand to massively benefit and Dell is one of it's biggest system builder customers.

[Steve]

There maybe  a few strings but it's good business sense to supply machines with MS products installed. I must have used 5-10 Dell machines in the last two days,they are all heavily used and some we would classed as antiques, but the build quality is good and on the whole very reliable.

[pctech]

I must have been terribly unlucky then.

[Niall]

They're going to have a massive task on their hands. A lot of online retailers build PCs to order now and some are starting to use the rather nifty and simple interface where you choose your components with a drop down menu which also shows the price difference for each option. Then when you add GOOD support, no BSing where companies refuse to replace components because it may have been overclocked or something they can't prove happened (mainly because it didn't) and actually honour their on site repair with an engineer that brings all parts needed to fix it, not arrive and say "oh this is broken, I'll have to order it" (like Dell have done with a friends business account several times) you may get happy customers.

Using actual products not some weird pre-formed motherboard built to fit their cases and only their cases, with bizarre cones inside for airflow in a sealed case (like my mums PC, rendering it worthless when it's usefulness ended).

Stick to common sense and build PCs like people that know how to build PCs at home do and they'll do well. Personally I can't really see them lasting long without a heavy bias on contracts with companies, and people are avoiding those now as everyone knows you get screwed totally in contract based PC networks.