Michael Dell Has Problems With The Truth

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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WinterMichael Dell is confused. He must wander the streets of Austin with his mind in a haze.

Only recently Dell said his company is doing super in the Middle East. He said that China was the "engine" for the PC firm’s expansion. His world has gotten so good, it is hard to believe that there is anything wrong with the economy

Dell either changed his mind in a few short weeks or Dell’s business (DELL) went to hell in a hurry. He means to take the troubles out on his employees.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "The company is imposing a hiring freeze, offering employees voluntary buyouts and asking workers to take one to five days off without pay."

The PC company has $8 billion in the bank and made over $700 million last quarter.

The time off without pay is an especially nice touch. There is a veiled threat in there somewhere. If you won’t go away and save us money, we might just have to fire you. Dell did not say that, but the math of the typical big company P&Ls lets everyone know it is true. The expense cuts have to come from somewhere

Michael Dell, who is by most counts a billionaire, and had total compensation in excess of $2 million is not taking a pay cut. Why should he? It’s his company.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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