“Dell Inc. plans to buy the technology services company Perot Systems Corp. for about $3.9 billion as it tries to expand beyond the PC business and compete more aggressively with Hewlett-Packard Co. – which also recently bought a tech-services company founded by H. Ross Perot,” Andrew Vanacore reports for The Associated Press. “Dell said it will offer $30 per share in cash for Perot Systems- a 68 percent premium over its closing price Friday. Perot Systems’ shares rose $11.73, or 65 percent, to $29.64 in morning trading. Dell shares fell 80 cents, or 4.8 percent, to $15.89.”
“Former presidential candidate H. Ross Perot Sr., now 79, serves as chairman emeritus of Perot Systems, which he founded in 1988. He earlier had made a fortune from founding Electronic Data Systems Corp. in 1962 and selling the company to General Motors Corp. in a 1984 deal worth $2.5 billion,” Vanacore reports. “Hewlett-Packard bought EDS last year for $13.9 billion.”
Dell’s “revenue comes mainly from the hard-hit PC business, while competitors like HP have a wider set of products and services. As a result Dell’s profits have been slumping, down 23 percent in the second quarter,” Vanacore reports. “Following the acquisition, which is expected to close by the end of January, Perot Systems would become Dell’s service unit. Dell said it expects additional acquisitions to expand on the business but emphasized that it is looking to hold on to Perot management, including CEO Peter Altabef. Ross Perot Jr., the chairman of Perot’s board, will be considered for a director slot at Dell, the company said.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Tom L.” for the heads up.]
I’m hearing a giant sucking sound.
Buckeroo Banzi , AKA Michael Dell, is now in the Fourth Dimension.
@LateRegistrant: I’m pretty sure you just thought you did. Sound doesn’t travel in a vacuum.
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can I finish one time?
can I finish one time?
can I finish one time?
can I finish one time?
Dell is deep voodoo and chicken feathers…
Perot Systems Corp should be buying Dell and not the other way around. Perot could wipeout Dells management nightmare and maybe save the company after getting a Perot would be much better then getting a Dell. Perot Systems Corp is also a much better run and organized company then Dell is or has every been.
So, Mickey is looking to flush Dell and some other companies down the drain at the same time.. Mickey Just shut down Dell and give the money back to the investors…
I wonder what Perot Systems has that Dell wants, exactly. They’re not exactly a household name. I don’t think I have anything made by Perot Systems.
I did vote for Perot in 1996 though.
Hi Wow,
If Dell and the other box makers buy up the IT support companies, they could stop the competition in the final customers by only recommending Dell crap. It will be hard to tell the customer’s management holding an iPhone that they can’t leave Dell and Microsoft.
dell has money?
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It should be interesting to see where this goes. I am all ears until then.
Dell and HP are staking their future on the enterprise. What happens when the enterprise shifts to Macs?
My guess is that Apple will partner with one, or the other (most likely HP), to provide nationwide enterprise support.
I miss Ross Perot. He was truly unique on the political scene. Voted for him in ’92/’96.
An even better man has finally emerged though: Go Ron Paul – the last best hope for America:
Dell was receiving outsourced services from EDS, then HP acquired EDS, so now HP provides outsourcing services to DELL. So I guess DELL wanted to not depend on HP for outsourcing services… I guess.
But as a outsourcing services companies, they have to provide solutions to their customers, so from now on, EDS will give you solutions based on HP computers and Perot Systems will recommend solutions based on DELL products. I think their customers just ran out of choices.
@Gregg Thurman
I can’t imagine Apple will ever make major in-roads into the enterprise market without expanding their line-up to include much lower end systems. Most businesses don’t purchase high-end hardware, let alone hardware that is expensive to repair and not easily serviceable.
@TomL
hey! don’t tarnish my image by associating me with Michael Dell !
I’ve been ionized, but I’m ok now.
Ok, who wants to guess what it will be worth when Dell unloads it to the next buyer? I think they’re going to piss away about 3/4 of Perot’s value in the next two years.
-jcr
Like him or loathe him, Perot is a business genius.
He unloaded EDS on the future-bankrupt GM, and he’s unloading PSC on an equally inept Dell.
Stick a fork in ’em, Dell is dead!
Please do your homework before commenting. Perot Systems, like EDS, provides consulting and IT support services to large corporations, the US Federal government, as well as state, county and municipal governments. They typically do huge contracts for a variety of services with their clients. For Dell, this makes sense, and deepens the inroads that Dell can make to make large-scale sales to big corporations and government agencies.
Apple does not really focus on this space, something that most IT publications won’t understand. I’d love to see more Apple products in corporations, but obviously, Apple doesn’t really want to play that game. What does concern me is the education market, which Apple has traditionally had a strong market share. With the acquisition of Perot Systems, Dell will likely make a bigger push to school districts and universities.
Looking forward, the huge amount of expenditures on healthcare and especially healthcare IT will be a big focus for Dell, HP, IBM and other large computer/IT services companies. The amount of money that will be thrown at that industry in the next 5-10 years in particular. One thing I’ll look for is whether Apple means for its rumored tablet to have strong applications for healthcare. I envision that it would be a perfect tool for doctors and nurses – the sales of these to healthcare could be tremendous.
It was sad to see Steve Jobs suffer like he did. Anyone who has undergone such a life-saving experience would never forget it. And Steve being Steve, I have to believe that he looked closely at how hospitals operate, both good and bad. One of the examples of the genius of Steve Jobs is seeing what’s wrong in a market and realizing how to completely transform the status quo. It’s why I believe the tablet, its software and likely even remote hosting of applications and services will reflect his experience.
In another article in today’s MDN, analyst Tim Bajarian, one of the few analysts I respect, pointed out that Apple does its strategic planning with a 10-year horizon, which is one of the key reasons for the company’s success. It’s why the iPod and iPhone have done so brilliantly – the executives at Apple, and their chief visionary have thought way into the future (not just the next quarter), and thought of how to build a large ecosystem that gives Apple a unique advantage.
That Apple is building a mammoth data center may be an indication of how the company is thinking ahead. It will be interesting to see what results.
Sounds like desperation to me… besides how can a company that is losing money afford to spend that kind of money on let another looser?
It’s time to return the money to those poor stockholders!
H. Ross Perot = Hand grenade with a bad haircut
Actually I would not be surprised to see Apple buy pcs to run its data center. Just load them with Linux and go.
In business, many systems do not need an easy to use interface, expecially if they are just running tons of move data stuff. You need a great UI when you have to deal with people.
Be interesting to see what happens.
en
Our company uses Perot for IT support… and it’s terrible. Outsourced to a drone who reads from a script and forces me to go through a tedious Q&A;every time, only to be flummoxed when I finally tell him I use a Mac. Dead silence on the other end. Why not ask which system I use as the first question, hmm?
Anyway, I’ve often wondered if their support could get any worse. With Dell taking the reins, now I know the answer.
(My workaround was to “go rogue” by getting a ProCare account and bringing my office laptop to the Apple store for support, ditching Perot completely. Works like a charm…)
@Wow
“I wonder what Perot Systems has that Dell wants, exactly. They’re not exactly a household name. I don’t think I have anything made by Perot Systems. “
An you are the typical Apple Fanboy. Most people here have no idea what Perot Systems, EDS (whom I worked for for 11 years) or any other company other than Apple does (and they truly don’t even understand Apple)…
Stick to mindlessly quoting Jobs like every other nutty fanboy. Skate to where the puck is going to be and stare at all those “delicious” Apple products that you own…
Axl,
[An (sic) you are the typical Apple Fanboy.]
Keep talking like that dood, and I won’t let you be my friend anymore.
BTW, What is a typical Apple Fanboy? Is it like being a typical M$ Fanboy?
You do know that 86% — and shrinking — of ALL typical computer fanboys are WinDroids, don’t you?
Thus, extracting ALL the ‘Apple’ fanboys from ALL the computer fanboys will net you a smaller base of fanboys than extracting ALL WinDroid fanboys from the same computer fanboy total. Right?
So, even if 100% of Apple users are fanboys, there would be a naturally larger actual number of WinDroid fanboys because according to the likes of WinDroids like you — only 2% of all computer users are Apple users.
Explain, how can an Apple userbase of a mere 30 million, have a larger number of ‘fanbois’ than a Windows userbase of 400 million?
Oh, I get it. 30 million Mac users are pyschotic koolaid-drinking fanbois, while the 400 million WinOwners are peaceful, loving computer users THAT NEVER SHOW UP AT MAC SITES TO PROMOTE HATE AN IGNORANCE.
Thank you Ross Perot for keeping NeXT alive.
Here’s a summary (from the Seeking Alpha site) of Cramer’s comment on this deal on his Monday Mad Money show:
“Cramer would buy Hewlett Packard ahead of its analyst meeting on Thursday, but as for Dell, he would sell, sell sell.”