Court decision clears way for Dell shareholder vote in September
While he started the week off with a bang thanks to a buzzed-about investment in Apple, Carl Icahn can't win them all.
On August 1, the financier filed a lawsuit in a Delaware court to try to block Dell from changing the record date of shareholders who may vote. In effect, the end goal was to derail CEO Michael Dell's plan to take the PC maker private.
However, a judge returned with a decision on Friday rejecting Icahn's argument.
The bottom line here is that Dell shareholders will be able to vote on whether the company should revert to a private operation or not -- a vote that has been delayed for weeks now.
Shareholders are now scheduled to vote on September 12.
It's been a busy week for the Round Rock, Texas-based corporation.
Dell turned a decent fiscal second quarter earnings report after the bell on Thursday. But the CEO actually did not provide any prepared remarks for Thursday's report.
Furthermore, given that corporate leadership wants to take Dell private, the company didn't provide third quarter guidance either. Yet a third quarter earnings release is still scheduled on Dell's Investor Relations calendar for November 19.
The announcement of Dell's second quarter earnings report actually came as a surprise to many investors and analysts given that the Texas corporation only announced a release date the day prior.
Then again, maybe nothing should come as a surprise to anyone following news about the tech giant given the constant flux it has been in for months since its CEO announced plans to take the company private in a $24.4 billion deal, or $13.65 per share.
But things haven't been easy -- especially in the face of Icahn, who has done virtually everything possible to block Michael Dell's bid.
Most recently, Icahn picked up four million more Dell shares at a rate of $12.94 per share, bringing his grand total number of Dell shares to 156,478,650. Icahn now owns 8.9 percent of the business, making him the second largest shareholder behind the CEO.
After a few other bumps along the road (not to mention delayed shareholder votes), Michael Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake have since raised their offer in order to buy the company and take it private to $13.75 per share, or $24.9 billion.