Dell (DELL.DL) is finally getting a bailout. The PC maker that electrified the marketplace in the 1990s with its direct-selling model has been a laggard in recent years. It failed to be a factor as consumers swapped PCs for tablets and smartphones, abandoning Windows as an operating system in favor of iOS and Android.
Now Microsoft (MSFT 1.49%) is kicking in $2 billion into a roughly $24 billion leveraged buyout plan to take Dell private, and that may not seem like such a smart investment at first, given Dell's slow fade, but it will be worth the price if it keeps Dell loyal to Microsoft's operating systems.
Dell is doing shareholders a favor by taking its shot at a turnaround attempt in private. There won't be activist shareholders calling the shots, and public investors of today won't have to suffer if the rebirth doesn't pan out.
Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.
- Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) stumbled after posting a larger-than-expected quarterly deficit and announcing that its CEO will step down later this year.
- What's in a name change? BlackBerry (BB 2.50%) changed its name last week, and on Monday it took on its new ticker symbol. The stock went on to close higher in its first four trading days under its new ticker symbol this week.
- Shares of Baidu (BIDU 1.29%) fell after the leading Chinese search engine posted quarterly results that featured contracting operating margins. Soft guidance also didn't help.
