One of the giants of the PC industry, Michael Dell founded his namesake company (DELL) in 1984 with $1,000 and the brilliant idea of selling a complicated product directly to customers, both businesses and consumers. In 1992, Mr. Dell became the youngest CEO ever to earn a ranking on the Fortune 500, and Dell eventually became the world’s largest seller of personal computers. But, after stepping down as CEO a few years ago, Mr. Dell was forced to resume the role in 2007 after changing market conditions caused the company to falter. Average consumers, never Dell’s core audience, became more important, as did retail sales. And Dell has been scrambling to compete with the likes of Apple, HP and Sony in areas like design and technical innovation, which have become more important. Asked back in 1997 what he would do if he were CEO of Apple (AAPL), Dell replied, “What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.” Today, Apple CEO Steve Jobs might say the same thing of Dell.
MILESTONES
1984: Michael Dell establish the company with a start-up capital of $1,000, in a 1000 sq. ft. office space, in a small business center in North Austin, texas.
1985: company introduce the first computser systems of its own design; the Turbo, intel 8088 processor running at 8 megahertz.
1987: Dell is first computer systems company to offer next-day, on-site product service
1988: Dell conducts initial public offering of company stock, 3.5 million shares at $8.50 each.
1990: Manufacturing center in Limerick, Ireland, opened to serve European, Middle eastern and African markets
1991: Company introduce its first notebook computer
1992: Dell included for its first time amoung Fortune 500 roster of worlds largest companies.
1993: Dell join ranks of the top 5 computer system makes worldewide.
1995: $8.50 shares of Dell Stock worth $ 100 on pre-split basis.
1996: Dell opens original asia pacific manufacturing center in penang, Malaysia.
1997: Dell ships...