“A Microsoft Corp. investment in Dell Inc. — should the reported talks come to fruition — could help Microsoft sell into the all-important business market more effectively,” Steve Rosenbush writes for The Wall Street Journal.
“Dell, which has been linked to talks with private equity firm Silver Lake Partners to take the computer and technology services company private, may have a new stakeholder in Microsoft, which may invest $1 billion to $3 billion in a leveraged buyout that would give it access to Dell’s expertise in areas in which Microsoft is interested in penetrating, while Dell could benefit from Microsoft’s unremitting focus on corporate customers,” Rosenbush writes. “Microsoft has made it clear that it wants to push deeper into the hardware business, and has launched the Surface family of tablets under its own brand. The company is selling them through its own stores, as well. Both moves are reminiscent of Apple Inc.’s strategy of creating its own line of carefully designed, premium products and selling them through its own retail channel.”
MacDailyNews Take: Reminiscent except for the part where they’re total flops.
Rosenbush writes, “From the corporate customer’s point of view, Microsoft’s participation could lend some stability to a Dell buyout as well, he said. And from Dell’s point of view, Microsoft could help the company achieve what it needs more than anything: sharp business focus, which he characterized as an area of Microsoft strength.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Sounds like a match made in hell, otherwise known as perfect strategery for Ballmer T. Clown.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Rainy Day” for the heads up.]
