Employees to learn fate over Dell EMC deal

Almost 6,000 Irish employees are to learn their fate over the coming weeks as the Dell EMC mega-merger is set to close on September 7

By Michael Cogley

Almost 6,000 Irish employees are to learn their fate over the coming weeks as the Dell EMC mega-merger is set to close on September 7.

A deal was agreed earlier in the year to see the two companies come together under a new umbrella company, Dell Technologies.

The $67bn (£57bn) merger will be the biggest in tech history and will also see VMWare, Pivotal, Secureworks, RSA and Virtustream enter into the new entity.

The deal has led to huge uncertainties around the company's Irish jobs, as both of the tech giants rank among the country's biggest employers.

The pair employ around 5,300 people in Dublin, Cork, and Limerick with EMC-linked VMWare employing around 700 in Cork.

It is understood that EMC's 1,900 Cork staff are safe from any cuts that the new business might make.

The deal will bring together two leading providers of data centre and corporate computing equipment as they chase faster growth.

The companies have received regulatory approval from China's Ministry of Commerce, the last major hurdle in finalising the deal.

Dell and EMC are joining forces to create a broader product line-up amid intensifying competition.

Hardware companies are under escalating pressure from cloud-based offerings that allow customers to rent computing power, rather than buying and maintaining their own systems from the likes of Dell and EMC.

"This is an historic moment for both Dell and EMC," Michael Dell, who will be chairman and chief executive officer of Dell Technologies, said in the statement.

EMC shareholders will receive $24.05 (£20) per share in cash and a tracking stock linked to a portion of EMC's economic interest in VMWare, its majority-owned software business.

Shares of the tracking stock, which will have the ticker "DVMT," are to begin trading on September 7.