Dell's profit falls 79pc as founder continues $24bn takeover battle

Poornima Gupta and Edwin Chan

Dell, the subject of a takeover battle between activist investor Carl Icahn and the company's billionaire founder, reported a 79pc slide in profit as PC sales continued to shrink.

The disappointing results lend weight to Michael Dell's effort. He wants to take the world's third-biggest PC maker private for $24.4bn (€19bn), arguing that its transformation into a provider of enterprise computing services, from mainly a computer maker in a shrinking market, is best done away from public scrutiny.