Michael Dell From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article's tone or style

may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. Specific con cerns may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better art icles for suggestions. (December 2007) Michael Dell Dell: founder, CEO, and chairman of Dell, Inc. Born February 23, 1965 (1965-02-23) (age 44) Houston, Texas, U.S. Education Attended University of Texas, Austin, 1983 1984 Occupation CEO and founder, Dell, Inc. Net worth ?''$19.7 Billions (2009)[1] Religious beliefs Judaism Spouse(s) Susan Dell Children 4 Michael Saul Dell (born February 23, 1965, in Houston, Texas) is an American bus inessman and the founder and CEO of Dell, Inc. Contents [hide] 1 Biography 1.1 Early life and education 1.2 Career 2 Wealth and personal life 2.1 Philanthropy 2.2 Political lobbying and contributions 2.3 MSD Capital 2.4 Feud with Steve Jobs 2.5 Expansion 2.6 Innovation 3 References 4 Bibliography

[edit] Biography [edit] Early life and education Dell was born into a family which liberally practiced Judaism.[2] The son of an orthodontist[3] and a stockbroker, Dell attended Herod Elementary School in Hous ton, Texas.[4] Dell had his first encounter with a computer at the age of 15 whe n he broke down a brand new Apple II computer and rebuilt it, just to see if he could. Dell attended Memorial High School in Houston where he did not excel acad emically. During that time he did however exhibit formidable business instincts selling subscriptions for the Houston Post. Selling to newlyweds Dell made $18,0 00 and bought a car and three computers with it.[5][6] [edit] Career While at the University of Texas at Austin, he started a computer company called PC's Limited in his room in Dobie Center.[7] The company became successful enou gh that, with the help of an additional loan from his grandparents, Dell dropped out of the university at the age of 19 to run PC's Limited, which later became Dell Computer Corporation, then ultimately Dell, Inc. Over time, and despite a number of setbacks (including laptops that caught on fi re in 1993, temporarily losing the consumer market to Gateway in the mid 1990s, and others), Dell survived the race to become the most profitable PC manufacture

r in the world, with sales of $49 billion and profits of $3 billion in 2004. As Dell expanded its product line to more than computers, shareholders voted to ren ame the corporation Dell, Inc. in 2003. On March 4, 2004, he stepped down as CEO of Dell but stayed as chairman of the b oard, while Kevin B. Rollins, then president and COO, became president and CEO. On January 31, 2007, Dell returned as CEO, succeeding Kevin Rollins (who resigne d earlier in the day).[8] Accolades for Dell include: "Entrepreneur of the Year" from Inc. magazine; "Man of the Year" from PC Magazine; "Top CEO in American Business" from Worth Magazin e; "CEO of the Year" from Financial World, Industry Week and Chief Executive Mag azine. At a speech before the Detroit Economic Club in November, 1999, Dell defi ned the "3 C's" of e-commerce (content, commerce, and community) while articulat ing his strategy for offering a superior customer experience online.[9] [edit] Wealth and personal life As of 2009, Forbes estimates Dell's net worth at $12.3 billion.[1] Dell currently resides in Austin, Texas with his wife, Susan, and their children ,[10] Kira, Alexa, and fraternal twins Zachary and Juliette.[11] [edit] Philanthropy On May 15, 2006, The University of Texas at Austin announced a $50 million grant from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation to "bring excellence in children's h ealth and education to Austin". The grant will enable the construction of three new facilities at the university. The first is the Dell Pediatric Research Insti tute which is expected to complement the new Dell Children's Medical Center near by. The second is a new computer science building on the UT campus named Dell Co mputer Science Hall. The third is the Michael and Susan Dell Center for Advancem ent of Healthy Living, which is intended to address issues that affect healthy c hildhood development.[12] In 2002, he received an Honorary Doctorate in Economic Science from the Universi ty of Limerick, in honor of his investment in Ireland and the local community al ong with his support for educational initiatives.[13] [edit] Political lobbying and contributions In 2005, Susan and Michael Dell were among 53 entities that each contributed $25 0,000 (the maximum legal donation) to the second inauguration of President Georg e W. Bush.[14] [15] [16] [edit] MSD Capital In 1998, Michael Dell founded MSD Capital LP, a private investment firm, to inve st in various small companies on Dell's behalf. According to reports, the firm t ends to invest in "late stage" investments rather than early in a company's star tup. [edit] Feud with Steve Jobs Michael Dell had a public war of words with Apple, Inc. CEO Steve Jobs, starting when Jobs first criticized Dell for making "un-innovative beige boxes". On Octo ber 6, 1997, when Michael Dell was asked what he would do if he owned then-troub led Apple Computer, he said "I'd shut it down and give the money back to the sha reholders."[17] In the 2001 Apple special Media conference Jobs said "Michael De ll has said some discouraging things about us lately in public, but we're not go

ing to engage in that sort of thing". In 2002, Dell's online store started selli ng Apple's iPod music players.[18] They stopped selling iPods in 2003, due to co ntract issues between Dell and Apple.[19] On January 13, 2006, Apple's market ca pitalization surpassed that of Dell. [edit] Expansion Michael Dell expressed his desire to expand Dell's market share in Brazil, Russi a, India, and China BRIC. To this, Vladmir Putin responded by saying, "We don't need help. We are not invalids."[20] [edit] Innovation Dell has often been accused of a failure to innovate, but he insists the commerc ialisation of new technology is still high on the company's agenda. "Our global consumer business introduced double the number of products in 2008 than in 2007, " he said. But Dell refuses to be drawn on questions relating to the company's e ntry into the smartphone market. "Ask me again in six months", he told Director magazine.[21]