Who is Michael Dell? Man worth $120billion backing Everton takeover bid

After months of fretting over 777 Partners, reports that Michael Dell, a man with a reputed personal fortune of $120billion is backing a potential Everton takeover bid have provided a boost for beleaguered Blues.

Sky Sports News claim that there are now five interested parties looking to purchase wantaway majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri’s 94.1% stake in the club with one of the bids, spearheaded by lifelong Evertonians, Andy Bell and George Downing, being backed by the MS Dell office.

Michael Saul Dell, 59, is the founder, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies, one of the world’s largest technology infrastructure companies but just who is the software giant?

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Let’s take a look...

How much is Michael Dell worth?

Kaveh Solhekol, chief reporter on Sky Sports News quotes the $120billion figure. That equates to around £94.48billion. On the same day, The Times also used the 120billion number, but they quoted it in pounds and called Dell “the 10th richest man in the world.”

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index is a daily ranking of the world’s richest people and details about the calculations are provided in the net worth analysis on each billionaire’s profile page. The figures are updated at the close of every trading day in New York and at the time of writing, they calculate Dell’s net worth to be $106billion, placing him 14th among the world’s most-wealthy individuals.

For context, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index calculates Bernard Arnault at number one as being worth $213billion, with the rest of the top five consisting of Jeff Bezos ($207billion); Elon Musk $203billion; Mark Zuckerberg ($175billion) and Larry Page ($155billion). Gopichand Hinduja topped this year’s Sunday Times Rich List as the wealthiest UK resident with £37billion.

How does Michael Dell’s fortune compare to the richest Premier League owners?

Profit and Sustainability Rules ensure that they can’t just splurge whatever they want on transfers like Sugar Daddies in the past, but Newcastle United’s owners are by far the wealthiest backers of any Premier League club. The Public Investment Fund is the sovereign wealth fund of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and it is among the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world with total estimated assets of $925billion (approximately £728billion).

In March this year, sheikhsnetworth.com claimed Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed boasts a net worth of $40billion (around £31.5billion) while just down the road, Manchester United’s new part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s wealth was calculated as being around £23.5billion on this year’s Sunday Times Rich List, ranking him fourth in the country. Arsenal’s Stan Kroenke currently comes in at 104 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with $19.6billion (£15.43billion) while Chelsea’s Todd Boehly is 386 with $7.14billion (£5.62billion).

How did Michael Dell make his money?

Dell’s bio on his company’s leadership page states: “Michael’s story started when he founded Dell Technologies with $1,000 in 1984 at the age of 19. Notably quoted as saying that “technology is about enabling human potential,” Michael’s vision of how technology should be designed, manufactured and sold forever changed the IT industry.

“In 1992, Michael became the youngest CEO ever to earn a ranking on the Fortune 500. Known and admired for his astute business vision and bold moves, Michael took Dell Technologies private in 2013, setting the stage to architect the largest technology deal in history with the combination of Dell, EMC and VMware in 2016 and the subsequent relisting of Dell Technologies on the public markets in 2018.”

What is Michael Dell’s background?

Born on February 23, 1965 in Houston, Texas, to a Jewish family, his parents were Alexander Dell, an orthodontist and Lorraine Charlotte (nee Langfran), a stockbrocker. They wanted him to become a doctor and in order to please them he took up pre-medical at the University of Texas in 1983 but manufacturing PCs he made a gross profit of almost $200,000 in his first year so he quit his academic studies aged 19 to focus on his business.

Dell’s account on X (formerly Twitter) currently has a pinned tweet from February 26, 2021, that reads: “I started Dell Technologies 37 years ago with $1000. Revenues in 1984 were $6million. Last year's revenues were $94.2billion. Impossible is nothing.”

He has written two books, Direct from Dell: Strategies That Revolutionized an Industry (1999), an account of his early life, his company's founding, growth and missteps, as well as lessons learned; and Play Nice But Win: A CEO's Journey from Founder to Leader (2021), a story of inside battles that defined him as a leader.

Dell married his wife Susan Lieberman on October 28, 1989, and the couple still reside in the Texan state capital with their four children although in February 2018, it was reported that in 2014, Dell had paid $100.5million for Manhattan’s One57 penthouse, which was then a record for the most expensive home ever sold in New York City.

In 1999, the couple established the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, which focuses on causes related to health and education. Last year, with his wife, Dell was the third-largest donor in the USA with total giving of $975million.

Michael Dell’s links to other English football clubs

Dell was reported as being involved in a potential Sunderland takeover in 2019 and then Derby County the following year. A report in the Chronicle stated: “The connection with Dell and Sunderland began because MSD Capital solely deals with the money of the Dell family, one of the richest in the world, having made their fortune in computing. MSD Capital invest Michael Dell’s money, essentially.

“But the initial takeover reports were a little inaccurate and journalists were quickly briefed about this. Rather than MSD Capital, the story should have named MSD Partners, which is a separate investment company run by Platek, Phelan and Fuhrman where they aren’t dealing with Dell’s money.”

In the end, Derby County received a major cash injection (£30million) borrowed against the club’s assets from a New York investment bank, MSD Capital, belonging to Dell, following reports of a similar arrangement for an undisclosed amount paid to Southampton. The ECHO understands that Bell and Downing are fronting the offer, built on support from Dell’s MSD group as a financing outlet.