Michael Dell: $67B EMC deal not peak of bubble

DUBLIN — Appearing at Ireland's Web Summit on Tuesday, Michael Dell said his company's record $67 billion purchase of data storage company EMC does not represent the top of an overinflated technology market.

"Sixty-seven billion looks like a lot of money" said Wired UK magazine editor David Rowan during an on-stage interview with Dell. "Are you calling (that) the top of the market?"

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Dell, the Texas-born founder and CEO of one of the world's largest sellers of personal computers, hesitated for a moment before replying: "Ah ... no."

The measured response elicited laughter from the audience.

Dell announced its intention to acquire EMC last month in what would be the largest technology industry deal in history if the purchase goes through. The transaction is expected to close by October 2016.

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More than a decade after Silicon Valley succumbed to a tech market crash amid sky-high valuations for Internet start-ups, there have been fears that another so-called technology bubble may be about to burst.  The technology-heavy Nasdaq stock index is now trading above its 2000 peak.

In a $25 billion buyout backed by financier Silver Lake two years ago, Dell took the personal computer maker he founded in his University of Texas college dorm room private.

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Amid a changing landscape and demand for personal computers and devices, the EMC move is seen as part of a strategy to reinvent Dell as a company focused on data storage and security.

Dell addressed that transition Tuesday in the Irish capital, saying that the company's evolving PC strategy was "not either/or, it's some combination of both."

He also said the PC business was not going away.

"There are 1.8 billion PCs in the world," said Dell. "Six hundred million of those are more than four years old and will probably be replaced … we want to sell you those."

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Dell, who started his firm with $1,000 in 1984, noted that the company has generated about $900 billion in sales since its inception.

"Life is wonderful," he said. "I don't have any complaints."