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

To: TigerPaw who wrote (175808)	2/3/2007 1:41:36 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

Dell faces another investor lawsuit __________________________________________________________ Class-action filing accuses PC maker of inflating profit with payments from Intel, concealing accounting issues. By David Koenig ASSOCIATED PRESS Saturday, February 03, 2007 A new class-action lawsuit claims that computer maker Dell Inc. inflated profits with secret payments of about $1 billion a year from chip maker Intel Corp. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday, when the company announced that founder Michael Dell would return to the chief executive's role amid more disappointing financial news. Filed in U.S. District Court in Austin, the lawsuit also claims that Dell concealed problems in accounting and product quality from shareholders while executives received $3.3 billion from selling their stock. Dell spokesman Dwayne Cox declined comment Friday on the lawsuit and wouldn't say whether the company had received payments from Intel. A spokesman for Intel, which was also named as a defendant, said the company has done nothing wrong and it will fight the lawsuit. Chuck Mulloy said that some of the charges "appear to have been completely made up" and that Intel payments to Dell were legal. "It's pricing. It's discounting," Mulloy said. "It's a normal business practice. Our business practices are both fair and lawful." Mulloy declined to describe the payments to Dell, saying it was a private matter. But he said the company had not been contacted by securities regulators or federal prosecutors. The case was filed by Lerach, Coughlin, Stoia, Geller, Rudman & Robbins LLP on behalf of two institutional investors. Mary Blasy, one of the lawyers, said that the plaintiffs don't claim the payments were illegal. Rather, she said, they think that Dell cheated investors by concealing the payments, which the company didn't control and which gave a false picture of Dell's financial strength. The lawsuit charges that Dell got the payments for shipping only Intel-based products and not doing business with Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Dell began using AMD chips last year. The payments to Dell were mentioned in an antitrust lawsuit that AMD filed against Intel in 2005. The Lerach, Coughlin law firm learned about the size of the payments from Dell insiders, Blasy said. The lawsuit named as defendants Dell and 16 current and former officials; Intel; and Dell's accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. It seeks class-action status for investors who bought Dell stock from February 2003 to September 2006. Other lawyers continue to file securities lawsuits against Dell, whose shares have lost nearly half their value in the past two years while the stock of rival Hewlett-Packard Co. doubled. Last week, lawyers for a Maryland investor filed a lawsuit charging Michael Dell, former CEO Kevin Rollins and other executives with unjust enrichment and gross mismanagement. Both lawsuits claim that Dell executives pushed the stock to artificially high levels by making false statements about the company's operations dating to early 2003. Find this article at: statesman.com

To: TigerPaw who wrote (175808)	2/3/2007 1:55:58 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 176387

Dell: The Problems Began In China hardware.seekingalpha.com

To: TigerPaw who wrote (175808)	2/3/2007 2:12:35 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 176387

Dell e-mail outlines shakeup ____________________________________________________________ Executive ranks will shrink; no bonuses for 2006. By Dan Zehr AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Saturday, February 03, 2007 Dell Inc. Chairman and CEO Michael Dell sent employees an e-mail Friday outlining the next steps in a major corporate shakeup and calling on them to help cut costs and reduce bureaucracy to restore the company to dominance in its industry. The e-mail went to Dell employees just two days after Michael Dell replaced Chief Executive Officer Kevin Rollins, after 18 months of weakening performance and slowing growth. In the message, Dell said the company would not give bonuses for 2006 but added that it would budget for "above-market raises" this year and readjust the targets for bonuses. Despite hard work and sacrifices, "we had great efforts, but not great results," Dell wrote about how the company ended its fiscal year Friday. "This is disappointing, and it is unacceptable." Dell also said that Paul Bell, who now runs operations in Europe, would become the top executive for the Americas, which accounts for two-thirds of the company's revenue. Donald Carty, the new chief financial officer, also will have responsibility for human resources, investor relations, communications and technology systems. It was unknown Friday evening how that would affect executives who held those positions, such as Vice President Lynn Tyson, who led the company's investor and public relations efforts. The company is looking for a chief marketing officer, a new position, and Dell said the company will create a head of global operations to oversee its expanding manufacturing, design and customer service operations around the world. Dell said he will streamline the executive ranks, reducing the number of top managers from more than 20 to 12. He also said he will not hire a chief operating officer to help him run the company, as some Wall Street analysts had expected. "I plan to be CEO for the next several years," he said. Dell said the company will push faster product development and branch out into new businesses to drive revenue growth. The global services business is one of the company's fastest-growing divisions, with revenues expected to top $5 billion — almost 10 percent of the total. In that area, Dell said, "we will build, partner and buy," raising the possibility of acquisitions — a rare event at the company. The company's revenue and computer-shipment growth have slowed dramatically over the past 18 months, allowing top rival Hewlett-Packard Co. to overtake it as the world's largest computer maker. Analysts have said a mundane product line is partly to blame for the company's struggles, especially in the consumer market, which has fueled industry growth in the past 18 months. In that arena, the company faces intensifying price competition and suffers because it does not sell its computers in retail stores. Dell made no mention of changing the pure direct sales model but said, "We will not run away from a cost fight!" "I ask you to commit with me to the future of Dell," the founder, chairman and now CEO wrote. "Show confidence with your teams and our customers. We will fix this business and take it to new heights." Find this article at: statesman.com