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Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (136851)	7/17/1999 11:19:00 AM
From: Mohan Marette	Respond to of 176388

Lovefest in Round Rock-Talking Stock with Dellionaires.(Austin Statesman) Say Tim here is little something from Austin.Oh BTW did you know the market cap of Microsoft as for Friday is about half a trillion dollars!!!!! and Dell is only at $110 billion,sheeesh. ========================= Taking Stock With The Dellionaires ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tales of regret temper shareholders' lovefest By Jerry Mahoney American-Statesman Staff Published: July 17, 1999 When he finally inched his way through the thick half-circle of admirers near Michael Dell on Friday at the Austin Convention Center, a gray-haired man handed the 34-year-old chief executive a piece of paper for Dell to autograph. Then the man unloaded a personal burden. Three years ago, to pay for his daughter's wedding, the man told Dell he sold Dell shares that today would be worth $300,000. And that makes for a pretty costly wedding, the man figured. Smiling and scribbling his name, the chairman of Dell Computer Corp. chose not to get involved in the man's personal business. But as more than 1,800 Dell investors turned out for the positive-feedback session known as the annual shareholders meeting, tales of cashing in Dell shares for personal reasons were being worn like badges of sacrifice. Take Kemble Matter, a high school wrestling coach from New Paltz, N.Y., whose devotion to Dell the company and Dell the man are legendary among "Dellheads" who know him from a Dell discussion group on the Silicon Investor Web site. Matter said he sold 1,750 shares of Dell stock three years and five splits ago to buy his wife a diamond ring on their 25th wedding anniversary. Today's value of those long-gone shares would be nearly $3 million, which is slightly more than twice what the 61,000 shares he now owns are worth. "I only bring that up to her on limited occasions," joked Matter, 52, who brought his wife and 22-year-old son to the meeting this year. When the meeting room lights dimmed and the formal business began, Michael Dell noted that Dell shares have appreciated more than 53,000 percent in the past 10 years. He said the company's prospects are the best in the personal computer industry, and predicted that one of the other top PC companies -- IBM, Compaq Computer Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., or Gateway Inc. -- will be forced out of the business within five years. Answering a question from an investor, Dell said the company will launch a U.S. Internet-access service that will charge customers a monthly fee. Instead of buying an existing provider, Dell will offer the service in partnership with a provider, like it does in Europe, said Dell Vice Chairman Kevin Rollins. An announcement is expected as soon as next week. During the meeting, shareholders approved a company proposal to authorize the issuance of 7 billion shares, up from 3 billion currently. They also re-elected Dell as chairman and chief executive, and Michael H. Jordan and Klaus S. Luft to three-year terms on the board. Mary Alice Taylor was elected to fill the remaining two years of a three-year director term. The meeting was a glaring contrast to Compaq's shareholders meeting in April. Angry investors peppered Chairman Ben Rosen with questions about insider trading and the plunge in Compaq's stock price. Some even suggested that the company adopt Dell's direct model. About 300 investors attended the Compaq meeting in Houston. Meanwhile, the annual shareholder pilgrimage to the birthplace of Dell -- for an hourlong meeting that has less suspense than a child's dance recital -- has evolved into an opportunity to tour the company's assembly plants and sample Austin's nightlife for one group of Dellheads. At Sullivan's steakhouse Thursday night, along with about three dozen other shareholders who have become friends since meeting through the Silicon Investor Web site, Dorine and Herb Essey of Miami sat next to Jackie Kelly of Seattle. The 39-year-old Kelly, a computer programming consultant who works on IBM mainframes, said Dell's manufacturing efficiencies "blew me away." austin360.com