Dell wants to be their own company again

There is talk that Microsoft plans to buyout Dell for the rather large sum of $20+ billion. A huge amount of cash no matter who you are. There’s no doubt PC sales have been down and that can be accounted for in a number of ways. Obviously, people would rather make their money go further, tablet sales are very high indeed, people are upgrading phones and unless you are a hardcore gamer or need massive power for photo/video editing, the computer you bought a couple years ago will still serve your needs. Do you really need a faster machine to browse the web or download email? I think consumers are pretty content with the machines they have. That has caused Dell, Intel, AMD and to see their sales dwindle over the past couple years. Right now tablets are hot and PCs are not.

So what is a company to do? Well, get itself out of the public eye, away from shareholders and back into a place where they can work on what they want, when they want. Dell wants to go back to being a privately held company and this could be a really good move. As I mentioned before, investors aren’t realistic in their expectations for what a company can do year after year. There is a certain point where things will have to level out. This isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s simply a fact. Apple, Microsoft, Google, et al, can’t expect to have record year every year, that’s just silly. Microsoft has been a victim of it’s stock for decades. No matter how much they make it’s simply isn’t enough. People want more, demand more and when it doesn’t happen and even when it does, they aren’t satisfied. Is there really a difference between $30.1 billion and $30.5 billion? That’s like dropping 50 cents on the ground and crying because you’re broke. Maybe if you’re a 5 year old. But seriously, when you make these kinds of profits, what is the limit? Microsoft conquers markets and then is called lazy and washed up because there is no one left to fight. Then they have to make enemies just so they can have something to work on. There is a limit to just how much money a company can make. There is a limit to just how many copies can be sold in a given year. There is something to be said for growing at a slow and steady pace and doing the same or perhaps just a little bit better every year.

It will be interesting to see if the talks of Microsoft and Dell have any merit. I like Dell machines and have bought nothing but for the past 20 years. Out of all the companies I’ve worked for, only one didn’t have Dell desktops. The desktop machines I use right now are Dell, my laptop is a Dell, my work machine is a Dell. It’s hard to imagine such a prevalent company as struggling, but I guess they are. Getting their stock back and not being forced to reveal everything they do under scrutiny would be a nice way to work. It would also make for some interesting desktop and server class machines that are tuned to run Windows. It would also get at least one vendor to make the Surface tablet the way Microsoft wants it to be made. Dell could push heavily into the server market both for on-site and cloud based business. Microsoft could have a bevy of machines at the ready running Windows with the correct drivers and the latest software.

If this privatization of Dell works, are we going to see other companies try the same thing? You always hear people asking if MS will buy their stock back, the same for Apple. Is this the start of a new trend? Going public is a great thing until you become successful then it’s a ball and chain around your neck. Just ask Facebook.