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"UPDATE: After weeks of rumors, Dell announced Tuesday that it is officially planning to go private. The company will pay shareholders $13.65 a share in cash, in a deal worth about $24.4 billion.\nMichael Dell, the company's founder, is financing the deal along with private equity firm Silver Lake. Microsoft also loaned $2 billion towards the deal.\nThe deal still needs to be approved by the company's shareholders.\nDell's board met Monday night to vote on a $24 billion offer to take the company private, according to a report.\nAccording to Bloomberg, the deal may be announced Tuesday morning. The report adds that the offer puts Dell's value at $13.50 to $13.75 a share. Dell closed Monday at $13.27 giving it a market value of around $23 billion. \nAmong the backers in the plan is Microsoft, which is investing $2 billion and Silver Lake Management, which will invest $1 billion-plus. CEO and Founder Michael Dell will contribute his 15.7% stake, which is valued at $3.6 billion, and invest another $700 million, which will give him a majority stake in his company. \nReps from Dell could not be reached for comment on the report.\nReports about taking the company private began surfacing in mid-January. Dell's stock has been up about 31% since the beginning of the year.\nTaking the company private would in theory give it more freedom to pursue growth strategies without worrying about challenges from investors. \nImage courtesy of Flickr, Cockrell School"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/02/05/report-dell-may-announce-its-going-private-on-tuesday/>