Dell's Secret Earnings Engine
617225
The company gets its highest profit margins from a conspicuously old economy business.
1913
(InfoWorld) - Stock in Dell was rising Monday on news thatÂ founder Michael Dell plans to remain as CEO for several years, trim the number of managers reporting directly to him, and eliminate bonuses. "We have a tough couple of quarters ahead. We didn't get here overnight, and we won't fix things overnight either," Dell wrote in a memo to employees on Friday. "Last year ... we had great efforts but not great results. This is disappointing, and it is unacceptable." Dell pointed to several problems with the company, including an overgrown bureaucracy and operating expenses that had grown too fast. "We have great people ... but we also have a new enemy: bureaucracy, which costs us money and slows us down. We created it, we subjected our people to it, and we have to fix it!" Dell said. "I am asking each of you to look across your organizations and eliminate redundancies." On Monday, a corporate spokeswoman confirmed the authenticity of the memo, which had been leaked to media over the weekend. The company has been buffeted in recent days by the resignation of CEO Kevin Rollins last Wednesday,Â Michael Dell announcing he would take over that job, and the accusation inÂ a lawsuit by investorsÂ on Friday that 15 top executives had garnered millions of dollars by selling their stock after propping up the company's faltering revenue with secret payments from Intel. Even before those blows landed, Dell was wobbling on a threat by the Nasdaq stock exchange to drop its stock unless the company files its overdue quarterly earnings reports.Â Dell has delayed filing those numbers for the past two terms as it struggles to satisfy an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of its accounting practices. It is not yet clear if that investigation is related to the investors' charges that Dell hid payments by Intel in exchange for staying exclusively loyal to one brand of microprocessor in its PCs. When Michael Dell announced on Wednesday he would return to his position as CEO, the company was already in the midst of a reorganization plan that calls for $100 million in spending to improve the customer service practices that allow it to bypass retail stores with its famed "direct sales" business model. The company was also following Rollins' plan toÂ remake itself as "Dell 2.0,"Â trying to move beyond an enormousÂ notebook PC battery recall in August by focusing on industrial design, overseas factories, and a move to diversify its computers by using chips fromÂ AMD as well as those from Intel. In his Friday memo, Dell added new details to that strategy. He promised to turn around the company by focusing on the SMB sector, enterprise servers and storage, shorter design cycles for new products, and increased sales in emerging markets. He also made a few corporate changes, recalling Paul Bell from his job running the company's markets in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) to lead Dell's new Americas group, which includes the fast-growing SMB sector. Dell also created a "global operations" division to focus on manufacturing and procurement. "I remember what it's like to start a company. We're moving fast. There is no luxury of time. The competitors are fierce. The difference is this time we have many new assets and some hidden ones that can be brought out," he wrote. Dell did not describe the hidden assets he would use to rescue his company's prospects, but he hinted that Dell had enough resources to outspend its competition. AlthoughÂ Dell handed the title of world's largest PC vendor to HP this year, it is still a corporate colossus. "When I started back in 1984, it was just me. But now we are blessed to have an awesome team, many great assets, and $11 billion or so," Dell said. Â
721553
r Dell rode a wave of falling computer component prices to higher profits during its third quarter. The Round Rock, Texas, PC maker on Thursday posted double-digit third-quarter revenue and profit increases
420947
Angst removal for fun and profit Analysis IBM has its On Demand, we'll-service-the-hell-out-of-you thing. HP has its Business Technology, we'll-ink-the-hell-out-of-you thing. Sun Microsystems has its Participation Age, red-shifting, we'll-network-the-hell-out-of-you thing. And now Dell has the we're-tired-of-direct-modeling-the-hell-out-of-you Dell 2.0.â¦
139376
Dell Inc. , the world's  second-largest personal computer maker, reported on Tuesday  quarterly earnings per share that topped Wall Street's average  estimate, sending its stock up nearly 10 percent.
393559
By Mike Keller, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.  Jun. 2--Don't look at getting rid of that old computer as the chance to make a profit, or even to garner much more cash than it will take in time and energy to pawn it off.
668192
Apparently Dell is too big for even Michael D. to run by himself. So the company has created the Digg-like Dell Idea Storm, where would-be CEOs can offer their 2 cents on how to run the show. At press time, more than 800 ideas had been submitted, with the most popular being: 1) preload less crapware, 2) offer more open source software, and 3) no more support calls with âBillie Jo from Bangalore,â please. The worst suggestion? Having Michael Dell deliver his PCs in person, kind of like a Dominoâs pizza. And if the PC crashes or blows up within the first 30 minutes, itâs free.
153713
The search engine company gets ready to unveil a program to do just that. Also: Make CDs while you order at Starbucks & hellip;. Nokia takes a Wall Street hit & hellip;. and more.
509311
Dell Inc., the world's second-largest personal-computer maker, reported first-quarter profit and sales that beat analysts' estimates and said it will cut about 8,800 jobs. The shares rose 5.9 percent in extended trading.
671860
Dell, the No. 2 PC maker, reported sales and profits Thursday that handily beat Wall Street forecasts, and announced it would cut its staff by 10 percent over the next 12 months.
54287
DALLAS -- Dell Inc.'s fourth-quarter profits plunged 33 percent because of weak sales of laptops and notebooks, and the computer maker still faces an unresolved federal accounting probe, customer service complaints, several shareholder lawsuits and stiff competition from rivals.
330015
Just two weeks afterÂ revealing that some employees had falsified corporate revenue to meet earnings targets, Dell reported a profit of $733 million for its fiscal 2008 second quarter, up 46 percent from its mark of $502 million for the same period last year.
595666
Stocks to watch on Friday: DELL INC. : The top personal computer maker's earnings on Thursday reflected slow sales in the consumer market, and its revenue missed analysts' estimates. Its forecast for the first quarter was also disappointing to Wall Street.
62441
Dell Inc. Tuesday pointed to its adoption of processors from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) for pushing it to US$677 million in profit for the third quarter, though the company has delayed reporting final numbers due to an accounting investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
760748
PERSPECTIVE With yesterday's rollout of the long-awaited AMD-based Dimension E521 desktop line, Dell may very well have made available one of the best-performing value-class systems under $1,000.  But with the company facing a number of hurdles, how long can it afford to keep margins so low?
593784
Dell Inc. , the world's second-largest personal computer maker, on Thursday reported quarterly earnings per share that topped Wall Street's average estimate, though revenue was short of expectations.
393912
Suit alleges illegal kickbacks to Dell from Intel were concealed.