Texas-based PC giant Dell, suffering as the PC industry contracts in favor of mobile devices, is nearing a deal to go private with a stock buyout of $23 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday afternoon. The company would pay investors $13.50 and $13.75 a share, just over where its stock price has hovered over the past month. Shares of Dell closed down 2.64 percent on Monday.
Were Dell to go private, the move would mark a supreme irony, given founder and CEO Michael Dell in 1997 said that a then struggling Apple should “shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.” Apple is now the most valuable technology company in the world.
