Dell's Buyout, Apple's Cash, and Bill's End?

It’s been fairly depressing news on several fronts this week. In case you missed it, the U.S. Government is now in a shut down. The Republicans are essentially holding the Democrats hostage, telling them that they will only sign a bill to finance government functions (Ex: NASA, parks, museums, visa office, etc.), if that bill also involves removing funding from Obamacare. Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act, has some Republicans screaming that the world will end. Seriously. New Hampshire representative Bill O’Brien said that the law will lead to ‘Armageddon’, and that it is ‘as destructive to personal and individual liberties as the Fugitive Slave Act’. Clearly he has never come to Canada. We’re still here.

To be fair, many say that the price for this health care is much higher than what citizens may have had (it needs to be to give everyone health care regardless of their health), and that negative effects include things such as, businesses dropping their full timers to part time, or removing health care coverage for spouses, due to the increase in health care costs. Regardless of how they feel about Obamacare, someone should inform the Republicans that putting 800,000 people out of work for a while, is not the way to gain favour from the American people or help your economy recover.

Back to what I was saying, not the greatest news this week (although it depends on your point of view), even in the world of tech. Here is your rundown:

-        -   Dell shareholders have agreed on a $25 billion dollar buyout. Michael Dell will now be able to take his company private again, ideally giving him more control and allowing him to enact internal reform more quickly. His proposed plan is to have Dell shift into an enterprise service provider, similar to IBM, and he feels this is best done out of the public eye.

   -  In the world of unreal, Apple apparently has $147 BILLION of cash on hand, which is 10% of all corporate cash held by nonfinancial companies. That’s an insane amount of money. And after a recent dinner with Tim Cook, billionaire investor Carl Icahn tweeted that he pushed for Apple to do another buyback of stock, $150 billion worth. When you’ve got that much cash on hand….why not eh?

         -  In the Microsoft world, apparently 3 of their top 20 shareholders have asked the board to remove Bill Gates as Chairman. They’re concerned that he will limit the power of a new CEO (now that Steve Ballmer is leaving) to change the direction of the company, especially since he has a role on the committee looking for a successor to Ballmer. Gates is still the largest individual shareholder, with a 4.5% share in the company. Interestingly enough, it was due to his suggestion that Microsoft will release a purple keyboard for the new Surface 2.

But hey, at least hockey season started in October this year! And the Leafs are 2-0….?? Let’s see how long it lasts.