The Biggest Winner of Dell's Public-Market Return? Michael Dell
- Company’s founder to retain solid voting control this time
- Tech giant’s business is better, but loaded down with debt
Michael Dell, chief executive officer of Dell Technologies Inc.
Photographer: Michael Nagle/BloombergMichael Dell is returning his eponymous technology company to public markets, after extolling the virtues of being private for years. But this time, it’s going to be on his terms.
Dell Technologies Inc.’s meticulously orchestrated plan to trade Class C shares on the New York Stock Exchange will give the computer and software maker all the advantages of a public listing with few of the drawbacks that caused the company to retreat in a 2013 leveraged buyout. Dell, who’s been in the tech business for 34 years, is in some ways taking a lesson from younger founders, such as Evan Spiegel of Snap Inc.: maintain as much control as possible and be less beholden to the whims of outside investors.