The fabulous life of Michael Dell, the $108 billion tech icon betting big on AI
Julie Bort,Theron Mohamed
- Michael Dell is one of the world's wealthiest people, with a net worth of more than $100 billion.
- The Dell Technologies founder made his fortune by democratizing the PC and striking shrewd deals.
Michael Dell, the tech entrepreneur who helped bring the personal computer to the masses, ranks among the world's wealthiest people with a net worth of $108 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
From his early career as one of the youngest CEOs of a Fortune 500 company until now, Dell is used to getting his way. He was only 23 when his company had its IPO in 1988. Dell took the PC maker private in 2013 only to relist it five years later, and has now shifted the company's focus toward serving the artificial intelligence boom.
Dell lives the extravagant life of a successful business figure as well, complete with all of the private planes, summer homes, and sweet rides you'd expect from a billionaire.
Michael Dell was born on Feb. 23, 1965, in Houston, Texas.
Dell was fascinated with gadgets from a young age. When he was 15, he bought one of the first Apple computers and disassembled it to see if he could put it back together.
Source: Academy of Achievement
When Dell was in high school, he got a job selling newspaper subscriptions.
After figuring out how to target an untapped customer base, he made $18,000 in just one year.
Source: Academy of Achievement
Though he was really only interested in computers, Dell entered the University of Texas at Austin as a pre-med student in 1983.
He spent his spare time upgrading PCs and selling them from his dorm room, making $180,000 in his first month of business. Though Dell never came back for his sophomore year, he returned to his dorm for a photo opp in 1999.
Source: Entrepreneur
In 2018, Dell tweeted out the first financial statement from his dorm PC company.
Dell used the statement to convince his parents that he didn't have to go back to college.
He sold nearly $1 million worth of computers and, after paying salaries and expenses, made over $198,000 in gross profit.
He officially launched his company in 1984, under the name PC's Limited.
It soon became one of the fastest-growing companies in the country, raking in more than $6 million in sales in its first year of business.
Source: Entrepreneur
He changed the company's name to Dell Computer Corp. in 1987, and sales continued to soar.
It went public in 1988, raising $30 million. Dell made about $18 million from the deal, and by 1992, the 27-year-old CEO was the youngest person to lead a Fortune 500 company.
Source: Entrepreneur, Academy of Achievement
In 1988, he went on a blind date with Susan Lieberman, a fashion designer from Dallas.
The two had an instant connection. "Most men I dated talked about themselves a lot and tried to impress me," Susan told Texas Monthly. "He was the nicest guy I'd ever met."
They were married in October 1989 and have four children.
In 2001, Susan Dell designed the inaugural ball gowns for Jenna and Barbara Bush.
She operated a successful boutique in Austin and even had two labels of her own before opening a new fashion brand, Phi, in New York City, which she closed in 2009.
Source: Austin Business Journal, Texas Monthly, New York Magazine
His son, Zack Dell, started following in his dad's footsteps.
In 2014, at age 17, Zach cofounded his own dating startup Thread. Thread later became a photo-sharing app but is no longer around.
The family's 33,000-square-foot home outside Austin is called "the Castle" because of its hilltop perch and heavy security presence.
The house boasts eight bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, a tennis court, indoor and outdoor pools, and gorgeous views of Lake Austin.
Source: The Independent
Dell also owns a 6,380-square-foot contemporary ranch house in the nearby hills, where the family keeps Arabian horses.
Source: Mother Jones, The Nation
The Dell family has spent vacations at the "Raptor Residence," a seven-bedroom, 18,500-square-foot compound in Kukio, Hawaii.
Source: Business Insider and The Pinnacle List
Dell loved the resort area of Hualalai so much that in 2006, with the help of Walmart heir Rob Walton, he bought the hotel and resort through his investment company, MSD Capital
Dell started MSD Capital in 1998 to manage his family's wealth. The firm has made investments in a number of companies, including IHOP and Applebee's parent company, apparel company Phillips-Van Heusen, and offshore oil drilling company Independence Contract Drilling.
Source: Bloomberg, Pitchbook, SEC filings.
Through MSD Capital, Michael Dell also invested in real estate in Hawaii, Mexico, and California.
The company invests in luxury hotels, commercial and multifamily properties, and land development, and it participates in other real-estate-development funds.
Dell has his fair share of hot wheels as well.
His car collection at one point included a 2004 Porsche Boxster, a Porsche Carrera GT, and a Hummer H2.
Source: MSN
He's also owned private jets including a Gulfstream V.
Private planes come in handy when Michael and Susan Dell travel for their nonprofit.
Since 1999, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation has given billions to nonprofits and social enterprises in the US, India, and South Africa.
Dell is friends with other tech billionaires.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is a particular buddy. The two of them did a public Fitbit walking challenge in 2014 and Benioff's team won. But Dell is so competitive (and also a fitness fanatic), that Benioff jokingly suspected that Dell put his Fitbit on his dog to help him score more steps.
Source: Fitbit, Business Insider
CEO to chairman and back again
In 2004, Dell left the helm of his PC company and became chairman. But in 2007, with Dell's share of the PC market declining, he shook up management, took the reins as CEO, and never let go again. As the PC market continued to decline, he expanded into new markets through new products and acquisitions.
In 2013, the Texan won a long battle to take Dell private, fighting off legendary activist investor Carl Icahn, who wanted to stop the deal, replace the board, and fire Dell.
Two years after winning that battle, Dell announced plans to buy EMC for $67 billion.
The financing of a deal this huge was complicated, and at first, skeptics thought it would fall apart, citing everything from tax complications to pushback from investors in VMware, a company EMC mostly owned.
Dell didn't lose.
Instead, he catapulted his company into a much bigger one with the purchase of EMC. He became the leader of what was then the largest private company in the tech industry.
After five years as a private company, Dell went public again in late 2018 through a complex arrangement that involved buying back shares in VMware, the software business in which it held an 80% stake.
He received a huge windfall in November 2023, when Broadcom closed its $69 billion takeover of VMware.
The PC tycoon owned nearly 40% of the cloud-computing business before it was sold to the microchip giant. As a result, he received well over $20 billion in Broadcom stock and cash in exchange for his stake, filings show.
Dell stock has surged by over 300% over the past two years, as investors bet it will be a key player in the AI revolution.
Dell shares have soared from below $34 in September 2022 to around $115, valuing the company at about $82 billion.
The stock surge likely reflects the company's pivot to providing a broad suite of AI solutions to corporations, selling everything from servers and data storage to AI PCs, networking, and services.
Dell trumpeted AI's potential in an interview published this September, saying it would "accelerate and advance scientific discovery" and "make humans happier, healthier, and more successful."
"I'm incredibly excited about it," he added. "As with any new thing, there are all sorts of uncertainties and questions, including how's it all going to happen. Nobody knows, and we love being in the middle of it."
Source: McKinsey
Dell's net worth has soared to more than $100 billion.
Dell's surging stock has supercharged its founder's net worth, raising it from about $45 billion two years ago to $108 billion.
Dell is now one of the dozen or so centibillionaires, and ranks 13th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
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