<<Dell will never buy CompUSA>>
Well at least one of us is certain<g> Contrary to your opinion...it is a viable possibility...may not have the highest degree of probabilities but it is possible. Anyway, my point was relative to the Gateway possibility...my opinion is Dell weighs heavier as a candidate and truly would be a nice fit.
Other retailers? Possible but to me lower odds. SPLS does good at managing higher margin (non-tech) items...not sure if they would be interested, or capable, of the high volume low margin bus in CPU. BBY? Too much overlap...CC? Overlap again. Sears? Maybe something here. Online retailer? BuyComp? Maybe again. Brick & mortar is here to stay, an online retailer may want a piece of it for the exposure and name. The best thing going right now is CC & BBY making money...kinda points the finger at CPU management as being less than adequate...offers some potential appeal to buying CPU...just a thought.
Back to Dell...someone mentioned that Dell's stock would tank if they pursued CPU...I kinda think that Dell walks on water(street does too???) and may be one of the only possible companies that could swing this deal and not have their stock price negatively impacted, the street would probably reward here. Once Dell came in and cleaned house good it would be profits there after (IMHO, based on Dell's historical acomplishments).
I'll speculate that somewhere...in some big Dell conference room...with some of the best research reports ($$$) sitting on the table (the kind of research reports I dream of getting my hands on) are some exec's at least crunching the numbers and discussing it. The market cannot be ignored by Dell forever...with everyone attacking the internet sales & BTO...Dell has to at least be considering attacking the other respective markets as well. You can operate, "Direct" and "BTO" even in a brick & mortar market, if creative enough you could even do BTO onsite HEY, WHAT AN IDEA, but a challenge to implement! Maintaining Direct and BTO would be a prerequisite for a Dell offer. Another prerequisite would be Dell would need to indicate the desire to sell PC merchandise...another prerequisite would be a lofty stock valuation by the street in order to enter the segment/market inexpensively....last, as I mentioned above, Dell's existing market would need to be under attack...it is, most notably by CPQ.
Odds really are not that bad for Dell to enter the CPU arena....not bad at all, just not guaranteed:(
Rich |
