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Dell will again become a publicly traded company in $22 billion buyout

Dell will again become a publicly traded company in $22 billion buyout

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Dell returns after five years as a private firm, and founder / CEO Michael Dell remains in charge

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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Dell is returning to the public market in a $22 billion stock buyout that will still leave CEO / founder Michael Dell and investment firm Silver Lake firmly in charge, as reported by The Financial Times. The company went private in 2013 following a $25 billion buyout by Dell and Silver Lake. Since then, Dell has seen success both in the enterprise market and with its consumer-focused PCs.

By moving back to the public sphere, Dell and Silver Lake will retain control over VMWare — which Dell acquired back in 2015 when it purchased enterprise data company EMC to better appeal to business customers — and be placed in a better position to reduce its debts.

“Unprecedented data growth is fueling the digital era of IT,” commented Dell in a statement regarding the company’s public return, “and we are uniquely positioned with our portfolio of technologies and services to enable the digital, IT, security and workforce transformations of our customers.”

Correction: Clarified Dell and Silver Lake’s relationship with VMWare.