Along with technology investor¹ Silver Lake, and with financial backing from Microsoft, he will offer to buy the firm for $24.4bn.

 

The move will take Dell off the Nasdaq stock exchange after 25 years.

 

Mr Dell hopes to turn the tide（扭转局势） for a firm that has struggled to compete with cheap Asian rivals and the boom in smartphones and tablet computers.

 

Dell's success over the last 29 years has made its founder² one of the richest men in America.

 

The chief executive and chairman already owns about 14% of the firm. He and fellow senior executives will retain their existing stakes.

 

The buy-out of the remaining shares will be carried out by a consortium made up of Mr Dell himself, his own investment fund, and Silver Lake. It will be financed by loans from four banks, and by a $2bn loan from Microsoft.

 

 

Analysts⁴ said the move would give Mr Dell greater flexibility⁵ in turning the company around, by dispensing⁶ with the need to deliver strong results every quarter to shareholders⁷ on the stock market.

 

The entrepreneur said that the firm's long-term strategy would "still take more time, investment and patience, and I believe our efforts will be better supported by partnering with Silver Lake in our shared vision".

 

"One of the key questions is going to be how much influence Microsoft is going to have over Dell's strategy," said Cindy Shaw, analyst³ at Discern Group.

 

Microsoft provides the Windows operating systems for Dell's computers, as well as for rival PC makers⁸ such as Hewlett Packard.

 

Michael Dell founded the company - originally named "PCs Limited" - in 1984 at the age of 19, operating out of his dorm room at the University of Texas.

 

He later dropped out of university in order to develop his PCs, including innovative⁹ laptops, and to expand his business overseas.

 

But over the last decade, Dell has faced increasingly steep competition, from cheaper Asian PC manufacturers such as China's Lenovo, and from innovative rivals such as Apple and Samsung whose tablets and smartphones have superseded¹⁰（取代，克制） the desktop¹¹ and laptop.

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