DELL’S DARING DEAL

Michael Dell’s masterstroke was his Denali Holdings’ takeover of EMC, run by CEO Joe Tucci, for $67 billion in 2016. EMC had an 81% stake in VMware. Dell created a “tracking stock” for 53% of VMware (Class V Shareholders), which drew investors Carl Icahn and Paul Singer’s Elliott Management. Dell and Egon Durban’s Silver Lake owned the remaining 28%. VMware acted as collateral for the $50 billion that Dell raised to buy EMC, with financial backing from JPMorgan’s Jimmy Lee and Jamie Dimon.