Texas-based Dell Inc. has finally gone private as it delisted from NASDAQ at the close of trading on Tuesday, October 29.
The acquisition of Dell by its founder and CEO Michael Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake Partners was completed as they bailed out the struggling PC maker.
"Dell today announced the completion of its acquisition by Michael Dell, Dell's Founder, Chairman and CEO, and Silver Lake Partners, a leading global technology investment firm," reads the press release.
"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."
The controversial buyout of $24.9 billion, which will result in privatization, raised severe criticism from major shareholders like Carl Icahn who had demanded a higher price. The acquisition marks the end of Dell's run as one of the biggest publicly traded PC makers in the world.
"We're the largest company in terms of revenue to go from public to private. In another week or two we'll be the world's largest startup," said CEO Michael Dell.
The declining global PC sales in the past year thanks to increase in popularity of super-slim tablets and phablets have contributed to the transition of the company from being publicly traded to its privatization.
Dell has seen its shares plunge from a high above $50 during (in its prime in 2000). The buyout will see stockholders receive $13.75 per share in cash for Dell common stock held. They will also receive a special cash dividend of $0.13 per share.
Founder Michael Dell is now endeavoring to transform Dell into a supplier of computing services to businesses.
