Company profile
SEC EDGAR ↗- Industry
- Electronic Computers
- Listed
- NYSE: DELL
- Incorporated
- TX
- Headquarters
- Round Rock, TX
- Fiscal year end
- Dec 31
Financials
FY2026- Revenue
- $113.5B
- Net income
- $5.94B
- Total assets
- $101.3B
| Fiscal year | Revenue | Net income | Total assets |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | $113.5B | $5.94B | $101.3B |
| FY2025 | $95.6B | $4.58B | $79.7B |
| FY2024 | $88.4B | $3.37B | $82.1B |
| FY2023 | $102.3B | $2.42B | $89.6B |
| FY2022 | $101.2B | $5.71B | $92.7B |
| FY2021 | $86.7B | $3.25B | $123.4B |
Reported fiscal years from SEC filings (10-K) — SEC EDGAR ↗. Stratrix is a strategy publication, not a real-time financial data service.
Decisions on record
7 verified Decision Cases on Dell, and the casebook each one belongs to.
| Fork date | Decision type | What Dell chose | Where it stood | The story | Casebook |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | The Money Machine | Build to order | around negative 27 to 28 days, driven by extended payables rather than near-zero inventory (2026) | Read the story → | The Money Machine Casebook → |
| 1994 | Distribution Rebellion | Exit retail, go direct-only | Dell began selling through Wal-Mart in June 2007 and was in roughly 10,000 retail locations by 2008 (2008) | Read the story → | Distribution Rebellion Casebook → |
| 2007 | Crisis Response | Adopt AMD chips | Intel cut the payments after Dell announced it would begin using AMD (2007) | Read the story → | Crisis Response Casebook → |
| 2013 | Founder Doctrine | Take on debt | Michael Dell beneficially owns 45.7% of Class C common stock on an as-converted basis, with sole voting and dispositive power (2026-02) | Read the story → | Founder Doctrine Casebook → |
| 2013 | The Money Machine | Take company private | Dell completed its acquisition of EMC in a deal valued at around $67 billion, described as a record price for a technology acquisition (2016-09) | Read the story → | The Money Machine Casebook → |
| 2013 | Founder Doctrine | Sweeten price and rewrite vote | Shareholders accepted the revised package worth about $13.88 a share and the deal completed, ending Dell's roughly 25-year run as a public company (2013-10) | Read the story → | Founder Doctrine Casebook → |
| 2015 | The Turnaround | Cash plus VMware tracking stock | Broadcom acquired VMware for approximately $61 billion in a separate transaction (2023-11) | Read the story → | The Turnaround Casebook → |
Videos on Dell
Run one of these yourself
The decisions Dell faced, as kits you can run.
Each pack takes one of these decisions and gives you the framework, a deck for the room, a model that resolves to one number, and the sourced cases behind it. $499, one-time.
Business ModelThe Money MachineWhere does the money actually come from, and who sets the rate it comes in at?See the pack →Crisis & ReinventionThe Crisis ResponseWhat is one more quarter of not acting worth?See the pack →Growth & PortfolioThe Distribution RebellionHow much of the channel's margin do you actually keep?See the pack →
The analyses
The Money Machine · Business Model
Dell Got Paid Before It Paid Its Suppliers. The Trick Was Born of Being Broke.
The legend says Dell engineered negative working capital from day one. The filings say otherwise: the cash conversion cycle didn't go negative until 1998, hit -18 days by 2000, and the whole thing started because a kid with $1,000 couldn't afford to mass-produce.
8 min
The Money Machine · Business Model
Dell Took Itself Private to Hide the Thing It Was Already Doing.
The legend says Dell's direct model was its moat. By the time it went private in 2013 for ~$24.9 billion, Dell ran 140,000-plus channel partners generating about 35% of its commercial revenue — through the very middlemen the direct model was built to delete.
8 min
Crisis Response · Crisis & Reinvention
Intel's exclusivity checks were 76% of Dell's operating income the quarter before it embraced AMD
Dell's efficiency legend hid a subsidy. Undisclosed Intel exclusivity payments grew from ~10% of operating income in FY2003 to 38% in FY2006, then spiked to 76% - about $720 million - in one quarter, right before Intel cut them.
8 min
The Distribution Rebellion · Boundaries of the Firm
Dell Tried Retail in 1992, Lost $36M, Fled in 1994 — and Now Sells Through Partners Again
The legend says Dell never used retail and never wavered. It did both. Dell entered stores in 1992-93, posted a $36M loss, and fled the shelf in 1994 - and today a substantial and growing share of its revenue runs through the very channel partners the model was built to delete.
7 min
The Founder Doctrine · People & Control
Michael Dell Has Spent a Decade Buying One Thing Back: Control
In 2013 Michael Dell took his company private in a $24.4 billion LBO. Every capital move since — $45.9 billion of EMC debt, a non-IPO return to public markets, the VMware spin — points the same direction. He isn't optimizing returns. He's defending ownership, and he holds 45.7% to prove it.
8 min
The Founder Doctrine · People & Control
How Michael Dell Won His Buyout: A Rewritten Voting Standard and $350M More on the Table
The legend says a founder bet everything and outfoxed Carl Icahn to take Dell private. The filings say something colder: the first vote failed, the board rewrote the voting standard mid-fight, and the deal only closed after Icahn's revolt forced at least $350M more onto the table.
8 min
The Turnaround · Crisis & Reinvention
Dell's $67B EMC Deal Ran on ~$46B of New Debt — and VMware Got Monetized Twice to Pay It Down
The Dell-EMC deal is sold as a $67B turnaround. It was a leveraged bet: ~$46B of new debt absorbed behind a private-company shield, then VMware monetized twice — first to deleverage in 2018, then handed off to Broadcom's $61B check in 2023.
8 min
Tools to try
- Ansoff move finderFramework: Ansoff Matrix
- Business model canvas builderFramework: Business Model Canvas
- Change readiness checkFramework: Kotter's 8-Step Change Model
- Five Forces scorerFramework: Porter's Five Forces
- SMART goal builderFramework: SMART Goals
- SWOT builderFramework: SWOT Analysis
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