Michael Dell
Michael Dell encyclopedia encyclopaedia article
(born 1965). American businessman Michael Dell was the founder and CEO of Dell, Inc. The company was one of the world’s leading sellers of personal computers (PCs). Dell was…
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(born 1965). American businessman Michael Dell was the founder and CEO of Dell, Inc. The company was one of the world’s leading sellers of personal computers (PCs).

Dell was born on February 23, 1965, in Houston, Texas. He started his business in 1984, while he was still a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin. With $1,000 in start-up capital, he ran the business from a dormitory room, providing customized upgrades for PCs. The company was initially called PCs Limited. By the second half of his freshman year, Dell had sold $80,000 worth of computer equipment. He dropped out of college at age 19 to run his company full-time. In 1985 the company began selling PCs based on Dell’s own design. Renamed Dell Computer Corporation, the company went public in 1988. It was later renamed Dell, Inc., when the product line expanded to include other consumer electronics products.

Dell’s business philosophy was to gain PC market share through a combination of cutting costs, reducing delivery time, and providing excellent customer service. To do so, Dell hired experienced executives, both to fill jobs in the company and to act as personal mentors. He emphasized direct sales outside the usual retail outlets. In 1992 Dell became the youngest CEO in history to have his firm enter Fortune magazine’s list of the top 500 corporations. Dell began selling computers online in 1996, and online sales helped the company become the largest seller of PCs in the United States in 1999. In his book Direct from Dell: Strategies That Revolutionized an Industry (1999), Dell outlined the story of the company’s development and provided general business strategies.

In 2004 Dell stepped down as CEO of the company, but he remained chairman of the board. He served on the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum and on the executive committee of the International Business Council. He also was on the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and sat on the governing board of the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India.

In 2006 Dell, Inc., experienced several setbacks, including a major recall and a customer service division struggling with complaints. In that year, Dell, Inc., lost the title of world’s largest PC manufacturer to Hewlett-Packard. In response, Dell was reinstated as CEO in 2007 to oversee Dell 2.0, a far-reaching overhaul of the company. He later sought to further transform the company while taking it back as a private enterprise. In 2013 Dell and the investment firm Silver Lake Partners won shareholder approval to buy Dell, Inc., for $24.9 billion.

In 1999 Dell and his wife, Susan, formed the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. Through the foundation, Dell used some of his personal wealth to help children around the world by focusing on health, education, safety, youth development, and early childhood care. The foundation gave millions of dollars to help victims of the 2004 tsunami in southern Asia; in 2006 it donated $50 million to the University of Texas at Austin.