By Dominique Jacquet

Michael Dell is well known … for having suggested to Steve Jobs to return their funds to Apple shareholders in 1997 when the firm was on the brink: elegance in person. In 1997, the Dell company generated revenues of 12 billion dollars and was worth 36 billion on the stock market. A little later, in 2013, Michael Dell, via an LBO, returned their funds to the shareholders (of Dell) to the tune of 24 billion after having again taken over the management for the previous 7 years (thin cows…): congratulations to the artist.

Shortly after the “Apple episode”, in 1998, the company VMware was created by students from Berkeley, then bought by EMC in 2003 for 625 million dollars. EMC will introduce 15% stake in VMware in 2007 at $85. After reaching a “high” above $200 in 2019, the price will gradually decline to reach the level of $95 in early May and then rise to $115 today.

In order to return to the stock market without going through the delicate stages of the traditional IPO, Dell took control of EMC, an already listed company, in 2016 for 67 billion dollars. Today, we would rather use a SPAC… The price of VMware is then positioned at $79 by the market.

In November 2021, Dell separates from VMware, after payment by the latter of an exceptional dividend of 12 billion dollars, through a spin-off, distributing VMware shares in the form of a special dividend to shareholders of the firm. VMware will theoretically continue its journey independently with growing revenues (from 8 billion in 2017 to 13 billion in 2021) and operating profitability stable enough to justify a ß of 0.8: from November 2021 to June 2022, the share price of VMware lost slightly less than the Nasdaq, which lost almost a third of its value over the same period.

Michael Dell owns 41% of the shares of VMware after the split.

But the story is not over because Broadcom, after having suffered some refusals from the White House, now has the authorization to acquire VMware for 61 billion dollars. This offer, which follows the acquisitions of CA Technologies and Symantec (for a total of nearly 20 billion dollars) and is “unsolicited” in the words of Michael Dell, is largely supported by the latter who will recover part of his stock market losses of the recent months. Michael will remain in History as the inventor of a highly innovative supply chain system that will provide a decisive competitive advantage to his firm. But, as a former member of the firm suggests, we can safely add that “Michael is a creative financial genius”.