Michael Dell's Lesson for Elon Musk: Going Private Isn't a Cure-All
- With less investor scrutiny, Michael Dell overhauled PC maker
- But 5 years later, the CEO seeks a return to public markets
Elon Musk seems to be taking a cue from Michael Dell in his desire to take Tesla Inc. private. But if Musk thinks removing his money-losing company from public markets will solve all of his problems, he hasn’t learned Dell’s lesson.
The similarities are clear: Like Dell, Musk is the founder and chief executive officer of a struggling publicly traded company. He has had to contend with a high degree of public scrutiny, analysts who are critical of his strategy, and expectant investors willing to bail out after a bad quarter. In 2013, Michael Dell also retreated from those outside forces by taking his company private in a leveraged buyout, saying that he wanted greater freedom to make the decisions needed for a turnaround amid a shrinking personal-computer market.