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What Michael Dell should say about 3Par

By | August 27, 2010, 1:50pm PDT

Summary: As Dell ponders its next move in the 3Par bidding war, here’s a mock release on what Michael Dell should say after he takes a termination fee and runs.

As we wait for Dell’s decision on whether it will match HP’s $30 a share offer for storage vendor 3Par, it’s worth ditching the emotion and getting to the bottom line.

Let’s face it, this 3Par bidding war has become a tad ridiculous. It’s all about emotion. In fact, the party that has the sense to walk away will probably be the real victor.

Without further ado, here’s what Dell’s statement should say as it lets HP have 3Par.

Dell gets a clue, drops 3Par
ROUND ROCK, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Dell announced today that it has regained its sanity and will give up on the 3Par acquisition.

“When we announced plans to buy 3Par we felt that the premium we paid was worth it given our potential for storage synergies. But following HP’s bid, we’ve determined that the quest just isn’t worth it,” said Dell CEO Michael Dell. “We’re happy to let HP pay for an overvalued asset. HP can have it. We had our bout with temporary insanity but got over it.”

Dell continued:

“Good luck to HP and whoever is making the decisions there. May your 3Par purchase work out as well as 3Com and Palm will (NOT!). We’ll take our termination fee and run.”

About Dell

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Topics

Dell Computer Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., 3PARData Inc., Storage, Workforce Management, Hardware, Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic.

Disclosure

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan has nothing to disclose. He doesn’t hold investments in the technology companies he covers.

Biography

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic. He was most recently Executive Editor of News and Blogs at ZDNet. Prior to that he was executive news editor at eWeek and news editor at Baseline. He also served as the East Coast news editor and finance editor at CNET News.com. Larry has covered the technology and financial services industry since 1995, publishing articles in WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, The New York Times, and Financial Planning magazine. He's a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and the University of Delaware.

For daily updates, follow Larry on Twitter.

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RE: What Michael Dell should say about 3Par
FAULKNE 13th Oct
Good day to confirm this comment I would appreciate T h e b e s t o f Z D N e t d e l i v e r e d your website very nice to everyone Yes, Oracle is the only one with shared-disk architecture, but that is there advantage. It means you can add or remove nodes and the database lives on. In a shared nothing architecture, if you lose a node, you lose the system. I'm sure Oracle appreciates EMC highlighting their advantage.I also desire to signal in your RSS feeds. Thank you as soon as once again and maintain up the great operate Awesome post! Thank you very much || thanks for nice content this is really benefit to me.
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You summed it up early, Larry.
Info-Dave 27th Aug 2010
"...the party that has the sense to walk away will probably be the real victor."

3Par stock has been valued by the investment community at $10. Suddenly, it's worth $30? To who? Or is it whom? HP has a meager storage presence, Dell's is non-existent. Paying $2B for 3Par (or more) is a knee jerk reaction to the problem. Neither company has a high enough profit margin to afford this.

I agree with everything you said Larry, except the disparaging comments about HP's acquisition of Palm. I would much prefer a WebOS interface to an HP printer than the junk HP has now. If they can end up with a WebOS phone/tablet, great. They are correct in looking outside of Microsoft for a software solution there.
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whom nt
Economister 27th Aug 2010
@Info-Dave

nt
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RE: What Michael Dell should say about 3Par
giacomo Al 23rd Sep
@Economister
It is good to see some detailed information on this topic which is very rarely discussed on the internet. thanks
ville lusso; bye!
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Knitlogix is selling 3PAR in india.
KNITLOGIX 2nd Sep 2010
Knitlogix India is the 3PAR's only partner in India delivering 24X7 support and 4 Hr SLA and has install base in India.
Please contact 40-64582708 Knitlogix Private Limited,Hyderabad for more details.
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RE: What Michael Dell should say about 3Par
Agnostic_OS 27th Aug 2010
As the song says -
"You got to know when to hold 'em know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run."
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RE: What Michael Dell should say about 3Par
Deacon336 2nd Sep 2010
@Agnostic_OS Run Michael, Run!
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3Par an investment for idiots
wackoae 28th Aug 2010
I can't understand why anybody would bid $1+ billion for a company that barely makes $5 million a year.
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RE: What Michael Dell should say about 3Par
sundar.emc@... Updated - 28th Aug 2010
Michael Dell will be taking a wise decision if he let 3par go off. I bet you that 3 Par is going to be a poor ROI asset. All the best to HP !
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3Par is a bad ROI
wackoae 28th Aug 2010
The company barely makes $5 million in real revenue a year, but somehow everybody thinks that it is worth billions.

Base on the earnings today and assuming some completely unrealistic increases in revenue, I don't see how anybody could justify an investment that would take about 100 years to recoup.
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RE: What Michael Dell should say about 3Par
nickdangerthirdi@... 31st Aug 2010
@wackoae take a look at the debocle EMC is going through in Virginny http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/virginias-it-outage-doesnt-pass-management-sniff-test/38609?tag=nl.e589

looks like better times are ahead for ole 3par.
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RE: What Michael Dell should say about 3Par
Dr. Figgnuttan 29th Aug 2010
Who is Michael Dell? Has he been around the company lately? Voted worst tech CEO! 1% to R&D! Streak, or whatever it is DOA! He has morphed the company into DULL. But not after pocketing a cool $400mil +.

A new CEO would be a more appropriate acquisition. Get back to business. Focus resources and make 21st century
devices. Am I the only one missing something?
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He is they guy who turned a brand people trusted
wackoae 29th Aug 2010
.... into one that sells overpriced JUNK.

Ever actually look at what parts they install in computer they claim is a server?? The 1st clue should be the cheap fans ......
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Dell never made good stuff
itguy08 30th Aug 2010
@wackoae
They ALWAYS made junk. Even when Mikey Boi was doing it from his dorm room.

Nothing Dell has ever made has been of high quality.
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For real
Theseus 30th Aug 2010
@wackoae
Dell quality control in the consumer PC space has fallen off a cliff.

They were ranked last, below Acer, in Consumer Reports. That's a disgrace and reason enough for new management.
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RE: What Michael Dell should say about 3Par
GreenDCman 30th Aug 2010
At least it seems like HP has a plan where 3Par would fit into their company... how would Dell even start to integrate 3Par?
0 Votes
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