If you haven't been keeping up with the saga at Dell, the gist of the matter was encapsulated in this one tweet, posted by billionaire activist investor
All would be swell at
- Carl Icahn (@Carl_C_Icahn) July 24, 2013Dell if Michael and the board bid farewell.
Icahn's tweet inspired more anti-Dell poetry in the form of a Haiku from CNBC's Guy Adami:
@Carl_C_Icahn let me reform in Haiku Dell still languishes A mere shell of former self Mike must bid adieu cc @MelissaLeeCNBC
- Guy Adami (@GuyAdami) July 24, 2013
To recap: Icahn is duking it out with the Dell's founder CEO Michael Dell who is trying to take the company private for $13.75/share.
Icahn has offered shareholders an opposing deal, one that keeps the company public, buys 1.1 billion shares at $14.00 each and gives them an option to buy more shares via something called a warrant. That warrant promises them that for every four shares held, investors will get an option to buy more shares at $20.00 each within the next seven years.
Naturally, Micheal Dell is fighting Icahn and has even asked the board to change the rules on how the stock vote is counted to help him win.
The shareholder vote has been pushed back a couple of times and is now scheduled for Friday. If shareholders prefer Icahn's plan, they would replace the entire board, including Michael Dell, with a team selected by the Icahn faction.
In the meantime, Icahn has been speaking out about Dell, sometimes with frustration and sometimes with humor.