US: Dell and EMC make their $67 billion mega-merger official

Computer-maker Dell Inc struck a deal on Monday to buy data storage company EMC Corp for $67 billion, setting a record in the technology industry, as it tries to transform itself into a giant in the fast-growing market for managing and storing corporate data.

The acquisition, the year’s third-largest in all sectors, highlights the frenzy of dealmaking sweeping the economy, as big or mature companies take advantage of low interest rates to buy rivals as a way to spur growth.

The deal should help privately held Dell, the world’s No. 3 computer maker, diversify from a stagnant consumer PC market and give it greater scale in the more profitable and faster-growing market for cloud-based data services.

That desire to reach beyond PCs – whose growth has been stopped in its tracks with the rise of mobile devices – echoes moves by Dell’s big rivals. Hewlett-Packard Co, the No. 2 PC maker, is splitting off its computer and printer unit this year to focus on the corporate data business. IBM Corp sold its PC unit a decade ago.

By combining Dell’s server businesses with EMC’s storage and virtualization assets, the new, enlarged company will have a broader range of products to challenge Cisco Systems Inc, IBM and Hewlett-Packard in the areas of cloud computing, mobility and cyber security.

“I don’t think either Dell or EMC were viable over the long run as a standalone; they really needed each other,” said Eric Johnson, dean of the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University. “Dell was mostly on the consumer side, which is a terrible place to be. EMC had some enterprise products, but not the complete package.”

Full content: The Economist

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