Silicon Investor - Dell Technologies Inc.

[apizzy] Agentic workforce will bring total workforce under 90k employees by EOY 2027

apizzy — 1/23/2026 3:41:24 PM

[Harshu Vyas] Anyone still on this thread? My first position of 2024 is buying Dell. A compa...

Harshu Vyas — 1/5/2024 10:30:19 AM

Anyone still on this thread?

My first position of 2024 is buying Dell. A company I've been thinking about for a few months. May seem expensive at 20x (ltm) earnings but I'm looking at it from a free cash flow perspective and considering Michael Dell into my equation. There's no principal-agent concern here.

And they're investing for growth via their ISG business segment. One of the rare GARP companies I've come across.

Looking forward to hearing from you all!

Best,
Harsh Vyas

[Glenn Petersen] It too 14 years after the issuance of the tracking stock for VMW to achieve its ...

Glenn Petersen — 11/1/2021 5:31:30 PM

It too 14 years after the issuance of the tracking stock for VMW to achieve its independence. The unshackled VNW should thrive.

Dell spins off $64 billion VMware as it battles debt hangover

Ends 8-year saga that will unwind part of deal for server and storage group EMC.

RICHARD WATERS, FINANCIAL TIMES
via Ars Technica
11/1/2021, 10:43 AM

PC pioneer Michael Dell is set to cap his climb back to the top of the computing world on Monday with one of the largest corporate spin-offs.

Dell Technologies will shed its 81 percent stake in publicly traded VMware, creating an independent software company with a stock market value of nearly $64 billion. Dell’s remaining hardware operations have an implied value of $33 billion, based on its latest share price.

The transaction, first disclosed in April, completes an eight-year saga in which the Texan entrepreneur turned his $3.8 billion interest in an out-of-favor PC maker into a personal stake in a broader data center hardware and software empire worth $40 billion.

Beginning with the buyout of his PC company, Dell went on to devour server and storage company EMC for $67 billion before taking the group public again in 2018. Along the way, he fought heated battles with dissident shareholders over claims that he bought Dell on the cheap and used complex financial engineering in the EMC deal to short-change investors. Silver Lake, the Silicon Valley private equity group that helped mastermind the dealmaking, will be left with stakes in Dell and VMware worth $11 billion.

Dell at one stage hoped to keep control of VMware as part of a broader hardware and software federation but changed course after its return to Wall Street received a cool reception from investors.

After the spinoff, Dell will be “a simpler company with a better capital structure,” said Krish Sankar, an analyst at Cowen. In other moves to try to appeal to a wider group of investors, Dell has said it will start paying a dividend.

Dell has been weighed down by debt after borrowing about $70 billion to finance its dealmaking. As part of the spinoff, VMware is paying a special dividend to shareholders of about $12 billion, helping Dell lighten a remaining net debt load that stood at $32 billion at the end of July.
Wall Street has also been wary of the complex financial engineering used to hold together the heavily indebted group. A year ago, after deducting the value of its VMware stake, Dell’s share price ascribed virtually no value to its remaining tech hardware business. Thanks partly to the plans for VMware, Dell’s shares have since risen more than 80 percent, giving it an implied stock market value of nearly $33 billion after the spinoff.

Compared with Michael Dell’s original business, Dell Technologies now sells a wider range of gear for corporate data centers, though roughly 60 percent of its revenue still comes from PCs. The company was buoyed by the work-from-home boom in PC sales and is now pinning its hopes on the new market for “edge computing,” as some of the computing power in centralized cloud data centers moves to smaller, local facilities closer to users.

VMware, meanwhile, is set to regain its independence 18 years after it was bought by EMC for less than $1 billion, in what turned out to be one of the most successful tech acquisitions. The separation from Dell will free it from that company’s focus on corporate data centers and give it more freedom to invest and make acquisitions focusing on cloud computing, said Sumit Dhawan, VMware’s president.

© 2021 The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved Not to be redistributed, copied, or modified in any way.

Dell spins off $64 billion VMware as it battles debt hangover | Ars Technica

[Sr K] I was wondering why VMW jumped, up 22.2% Friday. Now showing 22.3\% on SI.

Sr K — 11/1/2021 7:44:33 AM

[Glenn Petersen] Dell Technologies Announces Distribution Ratio for VMware Spin-Off Special Divid...

Glenn Petersen — 11/1/2021 4:52:57 AM

Dell Technologies Announces Distribution Ratio for VMware Spin-Off Special Dividend

Fri, October 29, 2021, 8:50 PM·6 min read

ROUND ROCK, Texas, Oct. 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) announces the final distribution ratio for the special dividend of its shares of VMware, Inc. Class A common stock and Class B common stock to Dell Technologies stockholders is .440626. Accordingly, Dell Technologies stockholders will receive .440626 of a share of VMware Class A common stock for each share of Dell Technologies common stock held as of 5:00 p.m. ET on October 29, 2021. Each share of VMware Class B common stock will be converted into one share of VMware Class A common stock in connection with the distribution and prior to the receipt by Dell Technologies' stockholders of such shares. Dell Technologies stockholders will receive cash in lieu of any fractional shares of VMware Class A common stock.

The distribution is expected to be completed on November 1, 2021, following the satisfaction of certain closing conditions.

Information about the foregoing matters and other information can be found in the company's current report on Form 8-K furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

<snip>

Dell Technologies Announces Distribution Ratio for VMware Spin-Off Special Dividend (yahoo.com)

[Sr K] Dell Plans Buybacks, Provides Post-Spinoff Outlook The tech company projects an...

Sr K — 9/23/2021 1:06:04 PM

Dell Plans Buybacks, Provides Post-Spinoff Outlook

The tech company projects annual growth of 3% to 4% over the next five years

Dell shareholders are set to receive a special cash dividend of $11.5 billion to $12 billion from the spinoff.PHOTO: VCG/GETTY IMAGES

By
Matt Grossman

Sept. 23, 2021 12:29 pm ET

Dell Technologies Inc. is planning a $5 billion share-repurchase program and projected revenue growth of up to 4% annually through fiscal 2026 as it nears the spinoff of its majority stake in VMware Inc. in November.

Exc.

[hdl] forbes 10/18/21 issue on michael dell. kemble saw michael dell was quite a boy.

hdl — 8/29/2021 4:00:29 PM

[Sr K] Dell Plans Spinoff of $52 Billion Stake in VMware PC maker intends to use net ...

Sr K — 4/14/2021 11:09:01 PM

Dell Plans Spinoff of $52 Billion Stake in VMware

PC maker intends to use net proceeds from the deal to pay down debt

Dell holds a roughly 81% stake in cloud-software company VMWare.PHOTO: BING GUAN/BLOOMBERG NEWS

By
Micah Maidenberg

Updated April 14, 2021 6:33 pm ET

Dell Technologies Inc. said Wednesday it would spin off its stake valued at $52 billion in cloud-software company VMware Inc., in a deal the personal-computer maker said would strengthen its financial position as it looks at new markets and works to reach clients revamping their digital strategies.

Dell said VMware would pay a special cash dividend tied to the spinoff of $11.5 billion to $12 billion to the company’s shareholders, including $9.3 billion to $9.7 billion for Dell itself. Dell holds roughly an 81% stake in VMware. The company said it intends to use net cash from the dividend to pay down debt.

The deal is the latest in a series of financial restructurings undertaken by Dell, which was founded by Michael Dell in 1984. After going public in 1988, the company went private in a 2013 leveraged buyout by Mr. Dell and private-equity firm Silver Lake that was one of the largest on record. After buying EMC Corp., they undertook a complex financial move that returned Dell to the public markets using the shares of a publicly listed vehicle that tracked Dell’s stake in VMware.

Dell’s $67 billion merger with EMC in 2016 also saddled the company with substantial debt.

The company said it intends to use net cash from the dividend to pay down debt. In an investor presentation, Dell said that, as of its fiscal fourth quarter, it had $33.4 billion in debt excluding a financing unit. Had the planned spinoff of VMware already occurred by then, the company would have had $24.1 billion in that debt, according to the presentation.

Skip

[HealthWealthMaster] Dell looks attractive, accelerating 10 day moving avg., Current Ratio is underva...

HealthWealthMaster — 3/19/2021 7:39:40 PM

Dell looks attractive, accelerating 10 day moving avg., Current Ratio is undervalued, Growth Rate/PE advancing, Price to Cash is a bargain, Market Cap. to Operating Cash flow at a discount, Price to Sales ratio excellent, Technical events attractive, Closing price positive, High Corporate Governance rating, MACD increasing, Price to Assets nominal, overall good deal. Price Target $137.87 (SimplyWallST).

[hdl] i saw a story re dell spinning off vmware and decided to come back to this board...

hdl — 7/16/2020 3:14:58 PM

i saw a story re dell spinning off vmware and decided to come back to this board - i think it is the old board - that i spent time at long ago.

markets.businessinsider.com

[Sr K] Dell Explores Spinoff of $50 Billion Stake in VMware PC maker is saddled with ...

Sr K — 6/23/2020 7:24:02 PM

Dell Explores Spinoff of $50 Billion Stake in VMware

PC maker is saddled with sluggish shares and heavy debt load

wsj.com

6:13 PM

Dell Technologies Inc. is examining options including a spinoff for its roughly $50 billion stake in VMware Inc. as the PC maker seeks to boost the value of its shares.

Dell recently kicked off a process to explore the possibility of unloading the stake or taking other steps that could include buying the rest of the cloud-software giant, according to people familiar with the matter. The companies are working with outside advisers, these people said.

The review is at an early stage and no decision is imminent and it is possible Dell will choose to do nothing.

Xx

Dell Technologies Inc. is examining options including a spinoff for its roughly $50 billion stake in VMware Inc. as the PC maker seeks to boost the value of its shares.

Dell recently kicked off a process to explore the possibility of unloading the stake or taking other steps that could include buying the rest of the cloud-software giant, according to people familiar with the matter. The companies are working with outside advisers, these people said.

The review is at an early stage and no decision is imminent and it is possible Dell will choose to do nothing.

The goal of the review is to address a gap between Dell’s market value—roughly $36 billion as of Tuesday afternoon—and the value of its 81% stake in VMware, a differential that suggests the market is assigning little or no worth to Dell’s core personal-computer and data-storage business. Separating the companies could help highlight the value of one or both businesses.

A transaction involving VMware, a major player in the fast-growing market for cloud software, could also be designed to help reduce Dell’s $48 billion debt load.

To the frustration of Dell investors, the company’s stock has barely budged since returning to the public markets in 2018. That is despite a more-than-50% rise in the same period for the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index, which set a record high Tuesday as investors pile into stocks of companies that are thriving amid the coronavirus lockdowns.

In a sign of investor enthusiasm for a transaction that would unlock value, shares of both companies jumped in after-hours trading when The Wall Street Journal reported on the review. Dell shares rose 18% to $57.80 after rising 1.5% in regular trading. VMware shares, which were little changed during the day’s session, rose 8% to $161.50.

Dell has recently organized working groups to explore various possibilities for the VMware stake. The primary option is a spinoff to Dell shareholders of the stake, some of the people said. Dell is assessing various implications of such a move, from corporate governance to capital structure and how the companies would work together following a separation, these people said.

Any deal is unlikely before next year. Dell can’t spin off its VMware stake tax-free until September 2021, or roughly five years after the PC maker combined with EMC Corp., because of a rule requiring both companies involved in a spinoff to have operated continuously for five years to qualify for such tax treatment.

Dell, founded by Michael Dell in 1984, has become known for its complicated financial engineering over the years. It went private in a 2013 leveraged buyout by Mr. Dell and private-equity firm Silver Lake that was one of the largest on record. After buying EMC, they undertook a complex financial move that returned Dell to the public markets using the shares of a publicly listed vehicle that tracked Dell’s stake in VMware. They were ultimately forced to sweeten the deal to fend off resistance from shareholders including activist Carl Icahn.

Dell shares closed at $49.01 Tuesday, which compares with $45.43 on their first day of trading in late 2018. Dell finance chief Tom Sweet said in a June 15 blog post that the company’s priorities include optimizing its capital structure by managing cash flow, paying down debt and making the right investments.

VMware has a strong position in the market for “hybrid” cloud, where large companies mix public cloud services like those of Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. with their own private networks. It has a market value of around $62 billion.

The demand for cloud computing, which enables customers to rent computing horsepower rather than invest in their own, has exploded in recent years. Startups and other businesses that couldn’t support in-house IT departments were among the earliest cloud adopters, but now companies across most every industry rely on cloud services, making them a priority for many technology giants.

The personal-computer sector, on the other hand, no longer enjoys the heady growth it once did after the market condensed into a few key players and consumers turned their attention to smartphones and tablets. That is partly what led Dell to push further into data storage with its purchase of EMC, which at the time was the largest technology merger in history.

Included in that purchase were several other businesses such as cybersecurity firm RSA Security LLC, software-development company Pivotal Software Inc. and VMware, which has since bought Pivotal. Dell sold RSA to a private-equity firm

[Sr K] DELL employees rang the closing bell at the NYSE, 3/9/2020. The details are: De...

Sr K — 3/9/2020 10:19:05 PM

DELL employees rang the closing bell at the NYSE, 3/9/2020. The details are:

Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) Rings The Closing Bell®
WHEN MARCH 9, 2020 @ 3:56 PM - 4:00 PM EDT
TYPE CLOSING BELL

The New York Stock Exchange welcomes executives and guests of Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) in celebration of International Women's Day (March 8th). To honor the occasion, Karen Quintos, Chief Customer Officer, will ring The Closing Bell®.

[SI Ron (Crazy Music Man)] No one invests in Dell anymore?

SI Ron (Crazy Music Man) — 1/16/2020 12:21:39 PM

[Sr K] New 52-week high.

Sr K — 4/30/2019 7:03:06 PM

[Sr K] New 52-week high of 65.89. Last 65.68.

Sr K — 4/24/2019 11:55:55 AM

[Legend124578333333] Dell is Issuing a forecast for the first time since re-entering the public marke...

Legend124578333333 — 3/5/2019 9:22:01 AM

Dell is Issuing a forecast for the first time since re-entering the public markets in December, said sales growth will slow over the next year, signaling that global economic struggles may dent corporate demand for the hardware giant’s products.

[Sr K] New high 57.11. Closed a little below that, at 56.73, on the NYSE.

Sr K — 2/26/2019 11:28:18 PM

[SI Ron (Crazy Music Man)] Does someone want to take over this board? The old mod is long gone. Dell is p...

SI Ron (Crazy Music Man) — 1/11/2019 8:01:19 PM

Does someone want to take over this board? The old mod is long gone. Dell is public again.

[Glenn Petersen] Dell debuts at $46 in return to market Reuters December 28 ,2018 (Reuters) - D...

Glenn Petersen — 12/28/2018 11:55:51 AM

Dell debuts at $46 in return to market

Reuters
December 28 ,2018

(Reuters) - Dell Technologies Inc shares opened at $46 on Friday, giving the computer maker a valuation of $16 billion in its return to public market, after it bought back shares tied to its interest in software maker VMware.

Its Class C shares were last trading at $46.25, while VMware’s shares rose nearly 2 percent to $157.2.

The tracking stock was tied to an 81 percent economic stake in VMware and buying it back allowed Dell to bypass the traditional IPO process, which would likely have involved grilling by investors over Dell’s $52.7 billion debt pile.

The company received the necessary shareholder approval for the deal in early December.

Dell went private here six years ago in a $24.4 billion buyout by Silver Lake private equity firm and Microsoft Corp. The deal was also financed with cash and equity from founder and Chief Executive Officer Michael Dell.

Dell holds 17 percent of the global PC market share year-to-date, behind rival HP Inc’s 23 percent and Lenovo Group Ltd’s 21 percent share, according to data from Canalys.

The company reported a 15 percent rise in revenue in its latest quarter, with revenue from products such as desktop PCs, notebooks and tablets, and branded peripherals, rising 11 percent.

Reporting By Aparajita Saxena in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli

reuters.com

[Sr K] Dell Technologies to Sweeten Deal for DVMT Tracking Shares Dell to boost cash p...

Sr K — 11/14/2018 12:59:22 PM

Dell Technologies to Sweeten Deal for DVMT Tracking Shares

Dell to boost cash portion of DVMT deal by about 50%, according to people familiar with the matter

By Cara Lombardo and Dana Cimilluca

Updated Nov. 14, 2018 12:34 p.m. ET

Breaking News...

Dell Technologies Inc. plans to sweeten a $22 billion deal to buy out an affiliate and return to the public markets, according to people familiar with the matter—five months after the PC and data-storage giant’s initial proposal sparked intense shareholder opposition.

Under the new deal, which could be announced as soon as this week, shareholders of the affiliate, known as DVMT, would receive cash and stock worth more than the current $109-a-share price, the people said. Exactly how much will depend on how DVMT shares trade in a future period. Dell also will increase the $9 billion cash portion of the deal by about 50%, the people said.

[Glenn Petersen] Dell Mulls Return to Market Four Years After Going Private bloomberg.com

Glenn Petersen — 1/26/2018 4:26:26 PM

[Sr K] Dell DVMT hit an all-time high, 84.95 closed 84.78

Sr K — 1/4/2018 5:06:21 PM

[Sr K] bloomberg.com During the quarter ended Aug. 4, sales were $19.3 billion, Dell s...

Sr K — 9/7/2017 8:55:45 AM

bloomberg.com

During the quarter ended Aug. 4, sales were $19.3 billion, Dell said. It had an operating loss of $979 million. In the previous period, sales were $17.8 billion and an operating loss of $1.5 billion.

[Sr K] aggressive price matching at Dell: Price Match Guarantee Dell.com wants you to ...

Sr K — 12/17/2016 5:54:33 PM

aggressive price matching at Dell:

Price Match Guarantee
Dell.com wants you to love your new technology without worrying about price. If you find a lower price advertised on the internet for a similarly configured Dell, HP, Lenovo or Apple computer, or any identical electronics product, we will match that price.

[Sr K] WSJ 7:29 PM Nearly $200 Million Flub, T. Rowe Price Seeks a Solution Investme...

Sr K — 6/2/2016 10:17:49 PM

WSJ
7:29 PM

Nearly $200 Million Flub, T. Rowe Price Seeks a Solution

Investment firm is likely to announce a plan to reimburse clients who lost out when it accidentally voted in favor of the 2013 buyout of Dell Inc.

[Sr K] bloomberg.com

Sr K — 6/1/2016 1:21:49 PM

[Sr K] Full story at wsj.com Updated April 1, 2016 4:52 p.m. ET 4 Comments A cybersec...

Sr K — 4/1/2016 7:21:37 PM

Full story at wsj.com

Updated April 1, 2016 4:52 p.m. ET
4 Comments

A cybersecurity firm owned by Dell Inc. is seeking to end the technology IPO drought.

SecureWorks Corp., owned by Dell’s closely held parent, Denali Holding Inc., is seeking to launch its initial public offering in April, people close to the deal say. The company could begin its “roadshow” to market the stock to investors during the week of April 11, the people said. The shares are expected to trade on Nasdaq under the symbol “SCWX”, according to a previous securities filing.

.
.

But in one respect it is similar: SecureWorks doesn’t make a profit.

In fact, the company’s losses have been swelling alongside its revenue. For the fiscal year ended Jan. 29, SecureWorks generated $339.5 million in revenue, up 30% from the previous year, while its net loss of $72.4 million was nearly twice as wide, according to a securities filing.

The company’s expanding losses could cause concern for investors, who have been increasingly demanding a clear path to profit.

SecureWorks filed IPO papers confidentially over the summer, as The Wall Street Journal reported in October, and publicly disclosed the plan in December. Bank of America Corp. and Morgan Stanley are lead underwriters on the deal.

[more100] PC makers may be in the spotlight after Gartner reported that worldwide PC shipm...

more100 — 1/13/2016 9:13:59 AM

PC makers may be in the spotlight after Gartner reported that worldwide PC shipments fell 8.3 percent year-over-year to 75.7 million in the fourth quarter. The firm estimates a 1 percent drop in shipments in 2016.

Lenovo took the top spot, with a 20.3 percent share of the total market, followed by HP’s (HP) 18.8 percent and Dell’s (DELL) 13.5 percent. Apple was in fifth place with a 7.5 percent share despite a 2.8 percent year-over-year increase in shipments. Most others reported declines in shipments.

[zax] In Takeover of EMC, Dell Makes Ambitious Bet By MICHAEL J. de la MERCED OCT. 12...

zax — 10/12/2015 9:55:13 AM

In Takeover of EMC, Dell Makes Ambitious Bet
By MICHAEL J. de la MERCED OCT. 12, 2015

nytimes.com

SAN FRANCISCO — Two years ago, Michael S. Dell succeeded in taking the company that bears his name private, giving him time and flexibility to adapt it to a rapidly changing technology industry.Now Dell is poised to strike the biggest-ever takeover in the technology industry by buying a fellow company grappling with swift changes: the storage provider EMC.

In striking its deal of more than $60 billion, Dell and its financial backer, the investment firm Silver Lake, are betting that a huge acquisition will help one of the best-known names in the industry keep up with the times.

No longer can a company like Dell thrive simply by making personal computers, the business that its founder began in his dorm room three decades ago. Mr. Dell recognized that when he and Silver Lake took the company private two years ago, with the goal of continuing to move toward corporate computing services away from the glare of the public stock markets.

Buying EMC would give Dell one of the biggest names in computer data storage, adding to existing offerings like network servers, corporate software and mobile devices.

</snip> Rest here: nytimes.com

[Sr K] First Dell laptops with Broadwell architecture Core M. pcworld.com

Sr K — 9/5/2014 11:32:56 PM

[Sr K] Dell laying the groundwork to go public again? He's on Charlie Rose, upbeat abo...

Sr K — 12/10/2013 12:25:03 AM

Dell laying the groundwork to go public again?

He's on Charlie Rose, upbeat about growing at double-digit rates, and the growth while public of 13,500% or 27 times the S&P 500.

[calgal] I am very capable of mis-posting.sorry. What did I do?

calgal — 12/2/2013 8:40:42 PM

[SI Dmitry (code monkey)] Dear calgal, Posting off-topic political content to stock investment discussion...

SI Dmitry (code monkey) — 11/30/2013 12:06:01 AM

Dear calgal,

Posting off-topic political content to stock investment discussion boards is prohibited on SI.

Please do not do this.

Regards,

@Dima

[E_K_S] Not sure what your post has to do with Dell Computers?

E_K_S — 11/29/2013 5:22:48 PM

[hdl] any upside from here? will icahn make a better offer?

hdl — 8/2/2013 10:26:09 AM

[calgal] MiicrosoftMicrosoft Surfa tBy Shira Ovide [graphic]Microsoft lifted the veil on ...

calgal — 7/30/2013 11:32:54 PM

Miicrosoft

Microsoft Surfa

tBy Shira Ovide
Microsoft lifted the veil on Surface revenue for the first time.Getty Images
Microsoft for the first time has said how much revenue its Surface tablets have brought to the software company.

The number, for the year ended June 30, was $853 million–a smaller amount than the $900 million charge that Microsoft MSFT +0.98% recently took on on the product line.

Microsoft disclosed the Surface figure in its annual financial report, which was filed Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company started selling Surface last October, but Microsoft previously has been coy about how the device has sold.

Partners that help Microsoft make one of the versions of Surface, called Surface RT, previously have said sales fell short of their expectations. Microsoft earlier in July slashed prices of that model–which uses an ARM-based chip and a variant of Windows 8 that can’t run older software.

At the revenue Microsoft disclosed for Surface–and assuming all units sold were the $499 Surface RT–unit sales would at most have been 1.7 million in the 12 months ended in June. By comparison, Apple AAPL +1.23% sold 14.6 million iPads in a single quarter ended in June.

Microsoft said that the $900 million charge reflected costs associated with making the price cut move and writing down the value of associated components.

Following the disclosure Tuesday, a Microsoft spokesman sent a statement by email.

“We recently reduced the price of Surface RT by $150,” he wrote. “We’re confident this pricing adjustment, along with our dramatically expanded geographic availability and distribution channels, will help accelerate Surface adoption and position us better for long-term success.

“Surface is currently available in 29 markets and more than 10,000 retail locations. We also broadened the availability of Surface to our business and institutional customers through a new channel-expansion program that allows commercial customers to purchase Surface devices from authorized resellers in the U.S., and we will be expanding this program to additional countries in the months ahead.

[calgal] Dell says SAP’s HANA Has ‘Scalability Issues \ Michael Hickins Editor...

calgal — 7/30/2013 10:55:51 PM

Dell says SAP’s HANA Has ‘Scalability Issues
\

Michael Hickins Editor
Dell Inc. CIO Andi Karaboutis says it took six months of testing before her team was able to successfully run SAP AG ’s analytic application, HANA, because of the size and complexity of the data being analyzed.

SAP is counting on HANA, introduced in June 2011, to offset slowing growth in customer spending in its traditional segments, such as ECC, an application used by large companies to manage inventory and other business processes. Monday afternoon in New York it introduced a new visualization tool called Lumira that it says makes it easier for business executives to view analysis produced by HANA. The company boasts that HANA makes it easy to analyze huge amounts of data from a wide variety of sources in real-time, but Dell’s experience would show that achieving those results in real-world circumstances is far from a slam-dunk.

According to Ms. Karaboutis, Dell is tracking customer behavior and transactions across a number of venues, including its own website, social networks, and from transactional data supplied by resale partners. The data is stored in a number of databases, including those from Oracle Corp. and Teradata Corp. The computer company is trying to reinvent itself as a broader services company in the face of flagging sales of personal computers, and getting a better understanding of customer preferences is key to that effort.

But Ms. Karaboutis said during an interview that, “we’re not in production yet [because of] some scalability issues.” She said HANA may not have been as robust as it needed to be when it was introduced to the market, and while SAP marketed it as being able to parse data from a variety of sources, the system struggled to do that. “That’s one of the reasons it took so long to implement,” she said, and is “why it’s taken so long” for Dell executives to get those needed insights about customers. But she added that she still thinks SAP has “a great product.”

Steve Lucas, SAP’s president of platform solutions, said Monday that SAP intentionally went after big accounts when it first introduced HANA in order to establish its credibility. Noting that SAP will soon sign its two-thousandth HANA customer, he said, “if we hadn’t started with big customers, we wouldn’t be in this position.”

In an emailed response to Dell’s comments, he said “Dell is seeing significant benefit from investing in HANA… Dell was a VERY early adopter of HANA and we are grateful they brought a big challenge to us. In the end, HANA delivered.”

Mr. Lucas said HANA can perform a number of processing and analytic tasks, including transaction, text analysis, and predictive analytics, in live memory, which allows customers to get results almost instantaneously.

Data visualization tools such as Lumira generally make it easier for non-technical people to use complex analytics tools. They can also be used to display data to customers. Michael Gliedman, CIO of the National Basketball Association, was on hand Monday to help SAP introduce Lumira. Mr. Gliedman said HANA makes it possible for the NBA to show complex data sets, such as shooting efficiency or number of turnovers by individual players, on its website.

Mr. Gliedman said the NBA was “able to avoid any scaling issues,” and is able to generate “instant access to 4.5 quadrillion combinations of NBA statistics.”

Ms. Karaboutis said she is working closely with other executives, including the company’s chief marketing officer, to help turn around the company. She said executives remain focused on their responsibilities and “delivering on our commitments” to customers, despite the uncertainty provoked by the ongoing proxy fight and shareholder vote at Dell scheduled for Friday.

CORRECTION: Steve Lucas is SAP’s president of platform solutions. An earlier version of this article said he was the company’s executive vice president in charge of analytics products. HANA has almost two thousand customers; an earlier version of this article incorrectly cited that figure as one thousand.

The NBA is using HANA on its website, but has not yet begun using Lumira. An earlier version of this article said the NBA was already using this tool.

[Sr K] bloomberg.com Dell-Silver Lake Increase Buyout Offer to $24.6 Billion By Callie...

Sr K — 7/24/2013 9:45:36 AM

bloomberg.com

Dell-Silver Lake Increase Buyout Offer to $24.6 Billion
By Callie Bost & Aaron Ricadela - Jul 24, 2013 8:53 AM ET

Michael Dell and Silver Lake Management LLC sweetened their proposal to buy Dell Inc. (DELL), boosting their offer to about $24.6 billion in an effort to clinch shareholder support.

The parties increased the offer to $13.75 a share from $13.65 and called it their “best and final proposal,” according to a statement today. Dell delayed a vote on the leveraged buyout to Aug. 2 at 9 a.m. local time at the personal-computer maker’s headquarters in Round Rock, Texas.

The new offer also requires that the Dell special committee agree not to count abstentions as votes against the deal, according to a letter included in the statement. After days of wooing by Dell and his camp, some 18 percent of eligible shares still hadn’t voted as of two days ago, a person familiar with the situation said. That works against the founder because absentees counted as “no” votes under the earlier proposal.

[Sr K] Meeting adjourned to July 24.

Sr K — 7/18/2013 9:20:51 AM

[Sr K] TECHNOLOGY | Updated July 17, 2013, 7:46 p.m. ET Dell Buyout Pushed to Brink La...

Sr K — 7/17/2013 7:58:52 PM

TECHNOLOGY | Updated July 17, 2013, 7:46 p.m. ET

Dell Buyout Pushed to Brink
Large Shareholders Expected to Reject Deal

By SHIRA OVIDE, SHARON TERLEP and DAVID BENOIT

Dell Inc.'s DELL $24.4 billion buyout plan was foundering late Wednesday evening, as a group of big investors signaled their intent to vote against a deal that would remove the technology icon from the public markets.

The new opposition from Vanguard Group Inc., State Street Corp. STT and BlackRock Inc. BLK pushed the deal to a new level of brinkmanship, forcing Michael Dell and his backers to either sweeten the transaction or risk seeing the deal fail.

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wsj.com

[hdl] but wouldn't icahn deal than go through? so stock is worth $14, not $10 or #13.

hdl — 7/17/2013 12:12:36 PM

[Sr K] If the Dell offer is turned down, the stock could go below $10. To preserve appr...

Sr K — 7/17/2013 11:02:15 AM

If the Dell offer is turned down, the stock could go below $10. To preserve appraisal rights, you cannot vote For. The vote is expected to be close, or the meeting wil be postponed by about a week.

[hdl] why is dell trading pm so much below michael dell and icahn bids? perhaps beca...

hdl — 7/17/2013 8:35:15 AM

why is dell trading pm so much below michael dell and icahn bids?

perhaps because there is no one on this thread anymore.

[calgal] [graphic] Reuters Ramping up efforts to break into the smartphone a...

calgal — 7/11/2013 10:20:42 PM

Reuters

Ramping up efforts to break into the smartphone arena with a fresh new device by Motorola, Google ( GOOG) is reportedly willing to spend up to $500 million on marketing alone.

As the Moto X looks to compete with industry leaders Samsung and Apple ( AAPL), the $500 million marketing investment will be a huge help, handily topping both of its competitors' mobile device budgets in 2012, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Apple spent $333 million to market devices in the U.S. last year, while Samsung allocated $401 million, according to the newspaper citing data from Kantar Media.

Partially a reflection of Google’s influence and early looks at the phone ahead of its late-summer launch, the Moto X has been dubbed a potential game changer for the mobile device market. It will seek to compete with Samsung and Apple as one of the top device makers in the U.S.

A potential phone by Google has been making ripples since the Silicon Valley giant announced plans to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in 2011. The phone will be available starting this fall through the four major U.S. wireless carriers: Sprint ( S), T-Mobile, AT&T ( T) and Verizon ( VZ), the newspaper said. It will eventually make its way into some overseas markets, including Europe, and will cost around the same as its competitors, the Journal reports.

Google could not be immediately reached for a comment on Thursday morning, while Motorola mobile declined to comment.

Read more: foxbusiness.com

[hdl] any thoughts on the stock. icahn offer may push michael to increase his - yet th...

hdl — 7/3/2013 9:02:43 AM

any thoughts on the stock. icahn offer may push michael to increase his - yet the stock is below both offers.

[calgal] Has anyone bought a DELL Tablet?

calgal — 6/27/2013 3:58:14 PM

[calgal] H-P's Lane to Step Aside as Chairman

calgal — 4/5/2013 5:43:26 PM

[Sr K] From Mossberg's review of XPS 12: Dell has cut way back on the amount of craple...

Sr K — 4/3/2013 12:59:40 AM

From Mossberg's review of XPS 12:

Dell has cut way back on the amount of craplets—unwanted software or trials and come-ons—it preloads on this machine.

[Sr K] Smear, smear. That was a Gloria Allred innuendo to help Fisher settle for money....

Sr K — 3/24/2013 6:29:26 PM

Smear, smear. That was a Gloria Allred innuendo to help Fisher settle for money.

Hurd landed on his feet, quickly, at Oracle, so he passed Larry Ellison's fact checking.

[zax] Seven weeks ago, Dell announced a definitive agreement to be taken private by a ...

zax — 3/24/2013 11:13:59 AM

Seven weeks ago, Dell announced a definitive agreement to be taken private by a group led by founder and CEO Michael Dell and the private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, assisted by a $2 billion loan from Microsoft and debt financing from a group of big banks. The deal was valued at $24.4 billion ($13.65 per share of Dell common stock), but allowed for a 45-day "go shop" period for alternative bids to be submitted to a special committee of Dell's board. Not all large shareholders were happy with the price, and early this month billionaire investor Carl Icahn threatened to tie up the buyout in court unless a large special dividend was paid to shareholders — without showing interest in buying the company himself. More recently, the private equity firm Blackstone Group jumped into the fray, and by Friday night's deadline both Blackstone and Icahn had submitted bids for Dell exceeding the original $13.65 per share agreement. Blackstone is said to be interested in installing Oracle's Mark Hurd as CEO, replacing Michael Dell. As Hurd was fired as Hewlett Packard's CEO in 2010 for alleged sexual misconduct involving an outside consultant named Jodie Fisher, he might have difficulty landing another CEO job at a publicly traded company; the Dell position could be an intriguing fit for both sides.