Dell Shares : Executives

CFO Brian Gladden Discusses Dell Q3 Fiscal Year 2010 Performance

Robert L Williams — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:38:00 GMT

I am pleased to have Brian Gladden, Senior Vice President and CFO, join us on Dell Shares to provide his views on the third quarter, the economy, industry demand, and the Perot acquisition.

Dell announced third-quarter fiscal-year 2010 financial results on November 19^th. Dell reported improved business performance with revenue up 1% sequentially to $12.9 billion. EPS was $0.17 per share and operating expenses were down 10% versus Q3 last year. In addition, cash flow from operations was strong again at $801 million and $3.4 billion over the last four quarters, which is up 42 percent from the previous four quarters.

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I strongly encourage you to read the full press release and earnings presentation; and listen to our conference call that can be found on the investor relations web site. As always, we encourage you to ask questions or leave comments on Dell Shares.

Best,

Rob

Dell - Perot Systems

Robert L Williams — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:00:00 GMT

Today, Dell and Perot Systems entered a definitive agreement for Dell to acquire Perot Systems in a transaction valued at $3.9 billion. Terms of the pairing were approved by boards of both companies.

We anticipate the combination will close by end of Dell's fiscal 4th quarter, pending regulatory approval, and will be funded with existing cash. Perot Systems' current CEO, Peter Altabef will lead the combined services units of joint Perot Systems' and Dell's services units. The new business unit will be called Perot Systems, a Dell Company and will be run out of Perot's current Plano, Texas campus.

This acquisition is about our strategy to provide next-generation IT service delivery and grow our enterprise revenue base. This is a key acquisition in our strategy to transform the company and IT services will be a significant part of our strategy and we have been focused on finding the right asset in this space, which Perot Systems provides. Perot Systems' expertise in infrastructure & operations, business processes, application development services strongly complements Dell's existing services offerings and global reach. Not only do they have a robust services portfolio, but they have tremendous segment expertise, including growth areas such as healthcare and government.

This combination allows Dell to gain a scalable asset that we can leverage our direct customer footprint to build out rapidly. We think we can add on other assets (including ours), and globalize Perot Systems into a strong global service company. Perot Systems' world-class services innovation brings several key service offerings we don't enjoy today. Another critical element to understand regarding this announcement is that Dell and Perot Systems are very familiar with each other from a capability and cultural standpoint. We have enjoyed a longstanding relationship over the past several years and with our announcement today take this relationship to the next level, which will allow us to deliver the best possible value for our customers. The pairing results in a compelling combination of companies that have similarly strong, relationship-based business cultures, and that are known for focus on helping customers thrive by using IT for greater effectiveness and productivity.

There will be more details about this acquisition once we close and satisfy the customary regulatory requirements involved. In the end, our strategic mission remains the same -- to provide disruptively great value to our customers... while balancing our financial goals of liquidity, profitability, growth. Thanks and we welcome your questions as always.

Rob

Additional Information

The planned tender offer described in this blog posting has not yet commenced. The description contained in this blog posting is not an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to sell securities. At the time the planned tender offer is commenced, Dell will file a tender offer statement on Schedule TO with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), and Perot Systems will file a solicitation/recommendation statement on Schedule 14D-9 with respect to the planned tender offer. The tender offer statement (including an offer to purchase, a related letter of transmittal and other tender offer documents) and the solicitation/recommendation statement will contain important information that should be read carefully before making any decision to tender securities in the planned tender offer. Those materials will be made available to Perot Systems's stockholders at no expense to them. In addition, all of those materials (and all other tender offer documents filed with the SEC) will be made available at no charge on the SEC's website: www.sec.gov.

CFO Brian Gladden Discusses Dell Q2 Fiscal Year 2010 Performance

Robert L Williams — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:16:00 GMT

I am pleased to have Brian Gladden, Senior Vice President and CFO, join us on Dell Shares to provide his view on the second quarter, the economy, industry demand, and the company's outlook.

Dell announced second-quarter fiscal-year 2010 financial results on August 27th. Dell reported improved business performance with revenue up 3% sequentially to $12.8 billion. EPS was $0.24 per share and operating expenses were down 14% versus Q2 last year. In addition, cash flow from operations exceeded $1 billion.

Best,

Rob

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Dell's Director of Sustainability, Tod Arbogast, Discusses FY09 Corporate Responsibility Report

Robert L Williams — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:42:00 GMT

Today Dell issued its FY09 Corporate Responsibility Report. I sat down with Tod Arbogast, Director of Sustainability, to discuss a range of topics regarding the report including Dell's achievements in Corporate Responsibility, engagement with the SRI Community, and how this area will evolve over time.

Please don't hesitate to post your questions/comments directly on Dell Shares or call or email us directly if you have any questions regarding this post.

We will also attend SRI in the Rockies in October and hope to see you there.

Best,

Rob

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Steve Felice, President of Small and Medium Business, Discusses SMB Business Environment

Robert L Williams — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:09:00 GMT

As a follow-up to our Analyst meeting, I recently sat down with Steve Felice, president of Small and Medium Business, to discuss a range of topics that have received investor attention including:

Dell's Go-to-Market Strategy
Differentiation in the Channel
Indirect Model in Asia
Current Macro Environment

Please watch the video below. If you would like to get more details from our analyst meeting, you can view the presentations and webcast from this meeting by clicking here. As always, I look forward to your questions and comments!

-Rob

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Review of Dell's 2009 Analyst Meeting

Robert L Williams — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:00:00 GMT

Dell Equity Analyst Meeting

Today more than 200 participants, including analysts and investors, joined us in Austin for Dell's Analyst meeting. There were also a record breaking number of webcast attendees for this meeting, where we broke our record of 400, rising to nearly 500 participants. This meeting was an opportunity to hear directly from Dell's senior leadership on our near-term operating agenda and long-term strategy and address questions or concerns. The presentations from this meeting are available for viewing online,

This year, the meeting and briefings took place the same day. Dell executives discussed the company's strategy and operating agenda along with a financial overview and update on its four customer segments.

We are competing in a rapidly changing environment. As a result, we are improving our core business performance while expanding and extending across a broader set of customer solutions. Key messages delivered today were Dell's differentiated view of how to win in enterprise, our strategic mission "to provide disruptively great value to our customers", and that both these items will be realized through a combination of internal investments, partnerships and inorganic growth.

The meeting was opened by Michael Dell, Chairman of the Board and CEO, where he discussed Dell's key assets, view on the enterprise, and long-term priorities. Michael noted that Dell has a strong presence and currently holds #1 or #2 share position in most key segments. He also covered strategic priorities to deliver operating income and cash flow growth as well as the requirements needed to win longer-term.

Brian Gladden, CFO, followed and built on striking the optimal balance between liquidity, profitability and growth. Brian reviewed Dell's operating agenda, gave an update on the solid progress on $4B cost reductions, and provided a long-term value creation framework that articulated Dell's vision for revenue growth, profitability and cash flow generation. He also stated that Dell is well positioned to benefit from an economic recovery and will continue to provide strong liquidity.

Steve Schuckenbrock, President of Large Enterprise, walked us through our higher-value & higher-margin enterprise vision which addresses innovation and virtualization in next-generation data centers vs. our competitors' full-stack approach. He also reviewed how Dell is delivering steady growth in its core business while powering enterprise efficiency through innovation without legacy. For example, we approach services very differently from our competitors. We believe services should be customizable, a la carte, and available remotely. We let customers choose which services they want and when they want them. And we provide solutions where consultants are available - but not required.

Paul Bell, President of Public Sector business, addressed how Dell is aligning its global organization for balanced geographic expansion via vertical solutions designed for three unique customer bases -Education, Government, and Healthcare. Paul mentioned the challenges in this segment due to the macro environment, but also highlighted opportunities that exist internationally as well as those related to stimulus funds. Requirements needed to win in the Public sector include deep expertise in the sector-specific challenges, solutions investments, technology leadership, and solid partnerships.

Steve Felice, President of Small & Medium Business, presented Dell's plans to lead in the SMB space through innovative solutions and its go-to-market strategy. Steve reviewed the varied needs across the customer base of Small Businesses and Medium Businesses as well as regional opportunities to grow the business. He highlighted the solutions and product offerings that will help drive growth in each of these areas along with the benefits offered through SMB's go-to-market strategy. Having a multi-channel strategy will enable Dell to expand presence in under-represented geographies and drive incremental growth in enterprises and solutions.

Ron Garriques, President of Dell's Consumer Group, walked through consumer's brand architecture, its multi-channel customer portfolio and how it's bringing a disruptive approach to PCs. Dell grew to 33,000 retail stores globally in two years. Clearly, there is a lot of opportunity to continue to grow in this retail space. Ron reviewed Consumer's plan to grow faster than the industry through aggressively managing costs to reflect the multi-channel infrastructure, expanding global presence, and offering competitive products. He also reviewed plans to reinvigorate Dell.com to create a destination for all customers.

If you haven't already seen the presentations, I encourage you to watch a replay of them here.

As always, we welcome any questions or comments.

-Rob

CFO Brian Gladden Discusses Dell Q1 Fiscal Year 2010 Performance

Robert L Williams — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:15:00 GMT

Dell announced first-quarter fiscal-year 2010 financial results on May 28^th. Brian Gladden, Senior Vice President and CFO, discusses the results and the company's outlook. Please review earnings materials on the Dell Investor Relations Q1 events page. All comparisons are year-over-year unless otherwise noted.

We announced Q1 results today. Revenue was down 23% to $12.3 billion. EPS was $0.15 per share and cash from operations was $761 million.

I am pleased to have Brian Gladden join us on Dell Shares to provide his view on the first quarter, the economy, industry demand, and the company's outlook.

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Also, we strongly encourage investors to read the full press release and earnings presentation; and listen to our conference call that can be found on the investor relations web site. As always, we encourage you to ask questions or leave comments on Dell Shares.

Jeff Clarke, Vice Chairman, Technology and Operations, Discusses Progress on $4B Cost Initiative

Robert L Williams — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:50:00 GMT

I recently sat down with Jeff Clarke, Vice Chairman, Technology and Operations, to discuss a range of topics that have received investor attention including:

Declining Client ASPs in the commercial customer business
Desktop and mobility virtualization
Progress on our $4 billion cost initiative
Optimization of our global manufacturing and logistics network
What we are going to do with the savings we realize from some of these initiatives

As always, I look forward to your questions and comments!

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Dell Announces New Global Segmentation around Key Customer Segments

Lynn Tyson — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 11:38:00 GMT

Today we announced actions to further globalize our operations around four key customer segments including large enterprise, public, and small and medium businesses. The leadership for these new units will be Steve Schuckenbrock (large enterprise), Paul Bell (Public) and Steve Felice (Small & Medium Business).

The globalization of our customer segments began over a year ago with our Consumer business, led by Ron Garriques. Today’s announcement is a natural evolution for Dell as we heard from customers they are not bound by regional difference, rather they are bound together by their needs to simplify IT and deploy information technology in better ways to meet specific business requirements.

Dell has significantly improved its competitiveness, reengineered its supply chain, broadened the product portfolio and introduced Dell to more people in more places than ever before. Four distinct business organizations capitalize on the company’s competitive advantages and will strengthen our execution and increase collaboration going forward. By organizing globally around these additional three commercial customer segments we expect to accelerate innovation, increase responsiveness and drive competitiveness.

Realigning is nothing new to Dell. We have a history of segmenting as our clients’ IT needs often present opportunities for us to further improve how we serve them. These changes facilitate quicker decision making and each business group will possess greater global accountability and responsibility for responding to customer needs, and for anticipating and leading industry change. As a result of these changes our customers will benefit from more comprehensive solutions and products specific to their industries, and services that best meet their specialized requirements. And when we do the right thing for our customers, shareholders also benefit.

We speak to business opportunities and financial results in these terms as we move forward. As our new segmentation evolves, we plan to align our financial reporting to reflect this new structure during the first half of Dell’s fiscal-year 2010.

In a related move, the company announced that Mike Cannon, president, Global Operations, will retire from Dell effective Jan. 31, leaving many contributions to transforming the company’s supply chain and improving its cost competitiveness. Mr. Cannon will be succeeded by Jeff Clarke who, in addition to his responsibilities as head of Dell’s Business Client Product Group, will become vice chairman, Global Operations. Mr. Cannon will serve as a consultant to Dell. Also, having completed the transformation of Dell’s marketing organization, including revitalizing the brand and instilling new levels of marketing effectiveness and efficiency, Chief Marketing Officer, Mark Jarvis, will leave Dell this fiscal quarter and provide ongoing counsel to Dell through the consulting business that brought him to the company.

All of these actions are part and parcel of our efforts to streamline our operations and remove $3 billion plus in annualized costs from our business by fiscal-year 2011. Our cost optimization strategy remains unchanged and we will continue to look for opportunities to improve our operations and reduce costs in ways that benefit customers, add to our long-term success and drive value for shareholders.

I encourage you to read our press release today and as always, we will respond to your questions and comments posted on this blog site as well as via email and over the phone. So please feel free to post on this site or contact us directly. We look forward to hearing from you!

3Q Earnings - Executive Q&A

Lynn Tyson — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:05:00 GMT

Chairman and CEO Michael Dell and CFO Brian Gladden Discuss Dell Q3 Fiscal Year 2009 Performance Dell announced third-quarter fiscal-year 2009 financial results on Nov. 20. Michael Dell , chairman and CEO, and Brian Gladden , discuss the results and the...(read more)