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Michael Dell:
Growth Rate Accelerating as Private Company
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Dec. 4
(Bloomberg) -- Dell Chief Executive Officer and Founder
Michael Dell discusses being back in charge and the
benefits of being a private company. He speaks to
Bloomberg's Erik Schatzker in New York on December 3.
(Source: Bloomberg) |
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Michael Dell Predicts More Buyouts as CEOs Seek Sale Advice
By Kelly Gilblom
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Dec 4, 2014 9:46 AM ET
Michael Dell,
chief executive officer of Dell Inc., said he anticipates additional
leveraged buyouts like the one he completed last year after more than
10 counterparts sought his advice on the process.
Dell said since his
Round Rock,
Texas-based personal-computer company became private last year in a
$24.9 billion buyout, he now has 20 percent more free time and can
better focus on long-term strategy. Dell declined to identify the
executives or companies that have sought his advice on LBOs, though
some of the companies are larger than Dell, he said.
“It’s been much easier managing the business through a private
entity,” Dell said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s
Erik Schatzker
at New York’s
Council on Foreign Relations.
“I think you could see some more based on the discussions I’ve been
having with other colleagues.”
Dell went private in October 2013 in a controversial deal that was
opposed by some investors including billionaire
Carl Icahn.
Icahn charged that Dell and his partner on the LBO,
Silver Lake
Management LLC, were paying too low a price for the buyout.
Bloomberg News
reported last month that Dell and Silver Lake have made a paper gain
of at least 90 percent on their investment.
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Photographer: Simon
Dawson/Bloomberg
Dell Inc. Chief
Executive Officer Michael Dell, pauses during a Bloomberg
Television interview on day two of the World Economic Forum (WEF)
in Davos, Switzerland. Dell has served as a model for other
hardware makers seeking to turn their companies around outside
of the spotlight of public markets. |
Dell has served as a model for other hardware makers seeking to turn
their companies around outside of the spotlight of public markets. Joe
Baratta, head of private equity at Blackstone Group LP, said in a
Bloomberg Television interview yesterday. He said he has looked at
about six $10 billion to $12 billion buyouts this year.
“The capital is there,” Baratta said. “It’s just the question of do
you see the value.”
Activist Value
In today’s interview, Dell also discussed activist shareholders,
saying they push companies to make short-term decisions that
temporarily help shareholders but hurt the business later on.
“Activism is a bull market strategy and there’s a risk to that,” he
said. “It certainly benefits during that short period of time but what
happens later on? That’s a risk and certainly as a long-term
owner-operator of a business I’m thinking about this over a lifetime
and beyond.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Kelly Gilblom in
New York at
kgilblom@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pui-Wing Tam at
ptam13@bloomberg.net;
Sarah Rabil at
srabil@bloomberg.net
Niamh Ring
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