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Dell thinks long term after
going private
No
changes to local teams facing customers and partners
Adam Bender (Computerworld) | 19 November, 2013
10:14
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Dell vice president of ANZ, Joe Kremer at the Dell
Enterprise Forum in Melbourne |
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Going private will give Dell the “passion
and energy” of a technology startup, said Dell's vice president for
Australia and New Zealand, Joe Kremer.
Dell CEO Michael Dell and investment
partner Silver Lake
completed their deal to buy out the company for US$24.9 billion
late last month. Michael Dell has said that going private will remove
pressure of answering to shareholders and give leaders more
flexibility in decision making.
“The biggest thing that will change is
that we have a much greater focus on the long term,” Kremer told
Australian customers in a keynote at the Dell Enterprise Forum in
Melbourne.
Since Dell will no longer be a listed
company, “the outcome of any particular quarter becomes less
important, and the outcome for our customers and our business in the
long term becomes even more important”, he said.
“From a financial perspective as a private
company, we’ll no longer be paying a half a grand dollars on
dividends, we’ll no longer be doing stock buybacks, and we have more
than $5 billion a year in positive cash flow.”
Kremer said Dell will maintain its focus
on customers, with no changes to local teams handling customers and
partners.
Michael Dell, who will own 75 per cent of
the company under the new structure, has said he wants to be “very
personally involved” in the company’s affairs, Kremer noted.
“There’s no question it’s a little unusual
for a founder of a $50 billion company going private, and he’s putting
more money in, and very keen to run things as a private company.”
Kremer said Dell is seeing significant
growth in new businesses including software, services and data centres.
Also, Dell has increased investment in research and development, he
said.
“You can expect to see more and more
investment and more and more growth in these new and emerging areas at
Dell.”
Adam Bender travelled to Melbourne as a
guest of Dell.
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