Michael Dell takes PC maker private in $25bn deal

Founder wins shareholder vote and firm will be taken private before November

Michael Dell has won a preliminary shareholder vote held this afternoon and is set to take the firm he founded private by the end of the year.

The eponymous leader announced his intentions to privatise the firm at the start of the year, and came up against investor Carl Ichan who opposed him throughout the bid - filing lawsuits and frequently badmouthing his opponents in the press - before pulling out earlier this week, claiming it would be "almost impossible to win" against Dell.

Dell will take the PC maker private in a $24.9bn (£15.73bn) deal with the help of Silver Lake Partners which is expected to close before its Q3 ends. Stockholders will receive $13.75 in cash for each share of common stock they hold, plus a special dividend of 13 cents per share.

Michael Dell said, as a private enterprise, the vendor can better serve its customers.

"I am pleased with this outcome and am energised to continue building Dell into the industry's leading provider of scalable, end-to-end technology solutions," he said. "As a private enterprise, with a strong private-equity partner, we'll serve our customers with a single-minded purpose and drive the innovations that will help them achieve their goals."