US: EMC Shareholders approve merger with Dell

EMC Corp. shareholders Tuesday approved Dell’s $60 billion offer, in what would be the largest technology merger ever.

The newly combined entity, to be named Dell Technologies, aims to be a one-stop shop for information technology sold to businesses. It will consolidate diverse products and services under one umbrella, including personal computers, servers, storage and networking equipment.

All that remains for the deal to move forward is regulatory approval from China.

“The board evaluated numerous options and decided that the merger with Dell is the best outcome,” EMC Chief Executive Joe Tucci said before the vote.

Dell, a leading maker of PCs and servers, is battling persistent declines in computer sales as users turn to mobile devices and other newer form factors. In acquiring EMC’s line of data-storage hardware—including VMware Inc.’s data center software—it aims to create the leading one-stop shop for information technology sold to businesses.

Once combined, the two companies plan to help customers move to cloud computing, which likely would be a hybrid approach that includes both cloud and on-premises operations, said one person familiar with the matter.

The deal will also let Dell exploit a product category pioneered by EMC, known as converged infrastructure, to sell computing, storage and networking equipment as an easy-to-install bundle.

The merger, in addition to being the largest tech deal in history, is extraordinarily complex. Dell, which is privately held, aims to buy not only EMC but its Byzantine federation of wholly and partially owned subsidiaries, including cybersecurity firm RSA Security LLC, software development company Pivotal Software Inc., in addition to virtualization software vendor VMware.

Full Content: The Wall Street Journal

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