Investor Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management are offering Dell shareholders a second privatization offer than they says is a better deal than Michael Dell’s own recent recommendation.
The new deal from Icahn would give Dell shareholders the option to retain shares and take an additional $12 per share in cash or stock. The deal opposes Michael Dell’s offering which simply provides investors with a sell off price of $13.65 per share.
Since Michael Dell announced the deal Icahn has been its biggest opponent, claiming that Michael Dell is too cheaply selling Dell shares. Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management own a combined 13 percent share of Dell. Michael Dell and his partners control a larger 16 percent share.
Speaking about his own plan for the company Carl Icahn writes:
“You now have the opportunity to ameliorate the damage that we believe you have caused to Dell and its shareholders by following the fair and reasonable path set forth in this letter.”
When appearing on CNBC’s Fast Money Halftime Report Icahn ripped into the Dell board of directors. Icahn claims shareholders “literally get screwed’ if the Michael Dell plan moves forward.
Icahn says during the interview that he would oust Michael Dell under his own plan. Icahn says:
“He will not be running the company. It’s not that I have anything against [Michael] Dell. I’m sure he’s a very nice guy, but it’s a new world out there.”
Ironically it is the “new world out there” that has forced Michael Dell to seek privatization. Dell and his board of directors have had a hard time adapting to new technologies which often require that they answer to public shareholders. Dell wants to take the company private so he can work with groundbreaking and unproven new technologies such as the cloud based OS mobile computer system on a USB stick known as the Dell Ophelia.
Do you think Michael Dell or Carl Icahn can bring Dell into the future of mobile and cloud based computing?
