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What Happened to Dell??
Morning Computer Nerds!

Remember this thing?

Your first time on the internet...

Ripping music off LimeWire...

Your first computer virus...


But where did Dell... go??
It's 1984.
University of Texas.
19-year-old Michael Dell is supposed to be studying pre-med...

But instead, he's in his dorm room with a screwdriver:

Why big Mike?

Oh, so you’ll build better computers for WAY less money?

So he starts "PC's Limited" right out of his dorm.
The idea: Cut out the middleman and sell computers directly to customers.
So while Apple is charging $2,500 for their first Macintosh…

Dell is selling his Turbo PC for only $795.
Look at this beauty:

The business EXPLODES!
1988: Dell goes public at $8.50 per share.

1992: Michael becomes the youngest CEO on the Fortune 500

By 2001, Dell is the largest PC seller in the world.
But then this happens:

Suddenly, everyone's got a computer in their pocket.
Who needs a clunky Dell desktop when you've got an ~iPhone~?
Dell's stock CRASHES.

But Michael Dell? This guy's nuts.
(Trust me, he just randomly DMs me charts and stuff…)

So in 2013 he takes Dell private for $25 billion dollars.
Why? Because what he's about to do is so radical, so expensive, so risky...
Wall Street would have lost its mind.
Michael's got his eyes on EMC - a $60 billion dollar data storage giant.







So Dell writes a check for $67 BILLION dollars to acquire EMC.
The biggest tech deal ever.
And now that Dell starts going after cloud infrastructure, he starts winning massive contracts:
Amazon needs servers for AWS? Dell.
Microsoft needs storage for Azure? Dell.
Google needs networking equipment? Dell.

Suddenly, Dell isn't just a PC company anymore.
They run the entire internet.
Today? They do almost $100 billion dollars a year.
So while we thought Dell disappeared, they actually just moved from your bedroom...

To running the ENTIRE INTERNET.

Every time you watch Netflix or scroll Instagram...
There's probably a Dell server making it happen.
Long live Dell ✊
Want the full, crazy story, including my text exchange with Michael Dell?
Stay Cute,
Henry & Dylan 🌈
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