Dell seals $24.9 billion buyout, delisting Tuesday

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Dell Inc will delist from the Nasdaq at the close of Tuesday's trading, as founder Michael Dell and private equity house Silver Lake complete their controversial $24.9 billion buyout of the struggling PC maker.

The go-private acquisition, fought by major shareholders like Carl Icahn who demanded a higher price, ends Dell's decades-long run as one of the world's largest publicly traded PC makers.

Like its rivals, Dell got sideswiped by the speed of decline in PC sales globally in past years, as consumers increasingly chose to spend on ever-more powerful smartphones and ultra-light tablet computers.

The company, briefly the world's largest PC maker last decade, has seen its shares plummet from a high above $50 during its heyday, in 2000. The buyout was eventually approved at a price of $13.75 per share, plus a 13-cent special dividend.

Michael Dell, which started the company from his college dorm room in 1984 and built it into a model of computer production and supply chain management, is now attempting to transform it into a provider of computing services to corporations. He feels such a radical overhaul is best done away from the scrutiny of public markets.

"Today, Dell enters an exciting new chapter as a private enterprise," said CEO Michael Dell. "Our 110,000 team members worldwide are 100 percent focused on our customers and aggressively executing our long-term strategy for their benefit."

(Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)