Michael Dell
Founder, chairman, and CEO of Dell Technologies; pioneer of direct-to-consumer PC sales.
Village Global · via Wikipedia: Michael Dell · CC BY 2.0
Dell Technologies, a major global technology infrastructure firm, was founded by Michael Dell, who also serves as its chairman and CEO.[1] According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes, as of May 2026, Michael Dell's net worth of roughly US $212.8 billion places him as the 7th richest person globally.[2]
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Michael Saul Dell
- Born
- 23 February 1965
- Birthplace
- Houston, Texas, U.S.
- Education
- University of Texas at Austin (dropped out)
- Occupation
- Businessman
- investor
- philanthropist
- Spouse
- Susan Lynn Lieberman (1989)
- Children
- 4
- Relatives
- Adam Dell (brother); Zach Dell (son)
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
While a freshman, he started an informal business selling PC upgrade kits from Room 2713 of the Dobie Center residential building.[3] He earned $18,000 in one year by targeting newlyweds and new home movers for newspaper subscriptions.[4][5] On October 12, 2015, Dell Inc. announced its intent to acquire EMC Corporation for $67 billion, the highest-valued tech acquisition in history.[6] To satisfy his parents' wishes, Dell enrolled in a pre-med program at the University of Texas in 1983 after graduating from Memorial High School in Houston.[4]
"PC's Limited" was the name under which Dell registered his company in January 1984, with operations starting from a condominium.[7] The business was started with $1,000 in capital, and Morton Meyerson provided mentorship to Dell during the company's early days.[8][9] With assistance from Silver Lake Partners and Microsoft, Michael Dell took Dell, Inc. private in 2013 through a transaction reported to be valued at $25 billion.[10]
What the cited sources add
Dell's own 1999 book "Direct from Dell: Strategies that Revolutionized an Industry" describes his early strategy of manufacturing computers after receiving orders.[11][7] The Fort Worth Inc. article by Henry confirms that Meyerson mentored Michael Dell during the formative period of Dell Computer.[9]
References
- Wikipedia, "Michael Dell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Surrounding oneself with the best talent", Industr (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Michael Dell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Bloomberg Billionaires Index: Michael Dell", Bloomberg; "Michael Dell", Forbes.com; Liu, "Michael Dell Just Made His Biggest Ever Donation Of Dell Stock", Forbes, 20 October 2023 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Michael Dell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Proud Products: Michael Dell", 2008-03-15; Kirk Ladendorf. "Dell remembers his beginning while looking toward the future" Austin American-Statesman. November 27, 2011, pp. E1, E2.; Dell, "Direct from Dell: Strategies that Revolutionized an Industry", HarperBusiness, 1999, p. 9–10; Larry Faulkner, President, University of Texas at Austin (2003). Michael Dell Remarks . dell.com; Buchholz, "UT's famed high-rise dorm where Dell launched to get $4 million makeover", Statesman.com, 2014-04-29 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Michael Dell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Carey, Jr., "American Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and Business Visionaries, Revised Edition", Infobase Holdings, Inc, 2020, p. 134; "Michael Dell", Entrepreneur, 2008-10-09; Dell, "Direct from Dell: Strategies that Revolutionized an Industry", HarperBusiness, 1999, p. 4–5 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Michael Dell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Carey, Jr., "American Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and Business Visionaries, Revised Edition", Infobase Holdings, Inc, 2020, p. 134; Dell, "First financial statement for @Dell. The one I used to convince my parents that it was OK for me to not go back to collegepic.twitter.com/kKuGDsyvYZ", @MichaelDell, 17 March 2018 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Michael Dell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Dell agrees $67bn EMC takeover", BBC News, 2015-10-12; "Dell to Buy EMC in Deal Worth About $67 Billion", Bloomberg.com, 2015-10-12; "Historic Dell and EMC Merger Complete; Forms World's Largest Privately-Controlled Tech Company Business Wire", Businesswire.com, September 7, 2016 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Michael Dell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Biase, "Applied Innovation: A Handbook", Premier Insights LLC, 2015, p. 379; Dell, "Direct from Dell: Strategies that Revolutionized an Industry", HarperBusiness, 1999, p. 12–13; Carbaugh, "Contemporary Economics: An Applications Approach\\\\", Routledge, 2014, p. 92 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Michael Dell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dell, "Direct from Dell: Strategies that Revolutionized an Industry", HarperBusiness, 1999, p. 12–13; Kessler, "Dell founder passes torch to new CEO", USA Today, March 4, 2004; Henry, "Morton Meyerson: A Business Legend Built in Fort Worth", Fort Worth Inc., 2022-02-18 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Henry, "Morton Meyerson: A Business Legend Built in Fort Worth", Fort Worth Inc., 2022-02-18. facts only, no text reused. fortworthinc.com
- Wikipedia, "Michael Dell" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Guglielmo, "Dell Officially Goes Private: Inside the Nastiest Tech Buyout Ever", Forbes (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Dell, "Direct from Dell: Strategies that Revolutionized an Industry", HarperBusiness, 1999, p. 12–13. facts only, no text reused. archive.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Michael Dell (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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