“Much has changed in technology over the past 14 years, including Michael Dell’s forecast for the industry’s biggest player, Apple,” Mark Milian reports for CNN.
“At a tech conference in October 1997, Dell was asked what he would do with Apple if he were in charge of the beleaguered company,” Milian reports. “‘What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders,’ Dell replied.”
“When asked about his famous statement on Tuesday at a conference in San Francisco, Dell paused to ponder the question as the audience laughed loudly,” Milian reports. “‘It’s a great question and a great opportunity to clarify what I said,’ Dell said. ‘The meaning of my answer was that I am the CEO of Dell. I don’t think of being a CEO of any other company… I am not a CEO for hire,’ the Dell chief said.”
Milian reports, “We’ll never know how Jobs would have responded to Dell’s about-face. But when an Apple employee asked the newly installed interim CEO in 1997 about Dell’s original statement, according to venture capitalist and former Apple employee John Lilly, Jobs said, ‘F*** Michael Dell.'”
MacDailyNews Take: “About-face?” Where? Dell did no such thing.
“I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders” does not mean “I am the CEO of Dell.” After 14 years, Dell wants to pretend that we’re all too stupid to understand what he meant by “I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.”
The fact is: After nearly a decade and a half, Michael Dell is still not man enough to publicly apologize and admit his stupidity. That’s probably as good a reason as any why his company, a peddler of cheap, consumer-grade, plastic crap, is a floundering mess that the Apple Steve Jobs built could buy three times over just with cash on-hand.
F*** Michael Dell, indeed.
Related articles:
Michael Dell: I was ‘largely misconstrued’ when I said SIDAGTMBTTS – October 18, 2011
Apple now worth fourteen times Dell’s market value – September 20, 2011
Apple now worth thirteen times Dell’s market value – August 26, 2011
Apple now worth twelve times Dell’s market value – January 27, 2011
Apple now worth eleven times Dell’s market value – September 23, 2010
Apple now worth ten times Dell’s market value – September 09, 2010
Apple now worth nine times Dell’s market value – June 01, 2010
Apple now worth eight times Dell’s market value – May 21, 2010
Apple now worth seven times Dell’s market value – January 26, 2010
Apple now worth sextuple Dell’s market value – October 20, 2009
Apple now worth quintuple Dell’s market value – February 12, 2009
Apple could buy Dell outright; Mac-maker has more cash on hand than Dell is worth – October 21, 2008
Apple now worth quadruple Dell’s market value – May 01, 2008
Apple now worth triple Dell’s market value – December 06, 2007
Apple now worth double Dell’s market value – July 27, 2007
Beleaguered Dell: Shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders – March 02, 2007
Biting words on Apple come back to haunt Dell – February 10, 2007
Steve Jobs emails Apple team: Michael Dell not the best prognosticator, Apple worth more than Dell – January 16, 2006
Apple now worth more than Dell – January 13, 2006
I think the real thing to realize in this article is this: Michael Dell is not Steve Jobs. When Steve jobs returned to the reigns at Apple, the organization was a mess. Regardless of how much money they had saved up, they had no clear direction, and any good CEO knows that is the death of a company, no matter how much money they have. I’m quite certain that anyone else put in the situation Jobs was in would have tried to sell off chunks or merge, but Jobs had vision, which is exactly what Apple needed. It was Steve Jobs that made Apple a household word, and Michael Dell couldn’t have done that.
‘F*** Michael Dell.’
HAHAHA!! Love it!
Go Steve! God I’ll miss you!!