Dell Computer Going Private

(CN) - Michael Dell and private investors are taking Dell Computer private for $24.4 billion, or $13.65 a share, after 25 years as a publicly traded company.

Dell and Silver Lake Partners will swing the deal with cash and equity and a $2 billion loan from Microsoft, a Dell supplier, wire services reported today.

Michael Dell owns 14 percent of the company's shares.

Forbes.com reported today that Michael Dell's shares are worth $3.8 billion and that Silver Lake will put in $1 billion. With Microsoft's $2 billion, the buyers would need to raise another $16.8 billion elsewhere.

Forbes, citing other investment publications, cast a cold eye on the buyout, quoting MarketWatch as opining that the company will be "redesigned or re-engineered or sold off for parts."

Dell's share price is off 76 percent since March 2000, according to Forbes. The company made its fortune in 1990s and early 2000s by selling computers directly to customers, cutting out the retail middleman.

The leveraged buyout, if completed, would be the biggest one since the Great Recession began in 2008.

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