Michael Dell gets $12bn richer with markets break

Dell founder Michael Dell

Tom Metcalf and Nico Grant

January 13 2019 06:00 PM

Michael Dell's return to the public markets after a protracted absence has helped make him $12bn (€10.45bn) wealthier. The man who became famous selling computers more cheaply over a newish thing called the internet retreated from Wall Street's glare in 2013, delisting a company in which he held a stake of just $3.8bn as sales of personal computers sagged.

He rebuilt the company, turning maker of inexpensive PCs into a diversified tech powerhouse that sells everything from servers to security software. Now his holding in Dell Technologies, which listed on the New York Stock Exchange last month, stands at $17bn, according to calculations by Bloomberg.

"Over the last six years, the company has transformed into a $90bn essential infrastructure provider with outstanding financial performance and a leading portfolio of end-to-end technology solutions," a Dell Technologies spokesman said in an emailed statement. The biggest-ever leveraged buyout in tech also is proving to be one of the most lucrative private equity transactions on record. Dell's fortune is now $27bn, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world's 500 richest people - up from $15bn in 2013. A spokesman for Michael Dell declined to comment on his net worth.

Bloomberg