Dell to Go Private in Buyout

$24.4 billion deal involving original founder

Michael Dell will take Dell Inc private for $24.4 billion in the biggest leveraged buyout since the financial crisis, a deal that allows the billionaire chief executive officer to revive the fortunes of his computer company without Wall Street scrutiny.

The deal—announced on Tuesday and financed with cash and equity from Michael Dell, cash from private equity firm Silver Lake, and a $2 billion loan from Microsoft Corp—will end a rocky 24-year run on public markets for a company conceived in a college dorm room.

To many investors, Dell's decline in market share since its peak in the early 2000s symbolizes the rapidly dwindling prospects of the personal computer industry.