This article provides Donald Dell's story about why he went public and why he turned Dell into a private company in which he has a majority interest. He went public for a good reason. It was a convenient way to raise the money that he needed to grow the business. That's what the stock market was designed to accomplish. Businesses have other ways to raise money after they have matured but most remain publically held companies. Dell did not like being forced to deal with Wall Street's expectations every quarter and especially disliked corporate raiders who tried to force him to do what they wanted. Dell believes that he now has the freedom to take Dell to the next level because he will not have to focus his attention on earnings per share every quarter. Its not clear that his strategy will be successful but it raises a question about the value of being a public company when a firm no longer needs to sell stock in order fund investments.
Donald Dell is not the typical CEO since he founded the company and is its largest shareholder. Most CEO's probably prefer remaining public since they increase their wealth by being compensated in stock options and they can implement strategies that are intended to increase the value of their stock options during their tenure which averages around 7 years.
No comments:
Post a Comment