The Company

Dell Inc. listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services they trust and value. Uniquely enabled by its direct business model, Dell sells more systems globally than any computer company, placing it No. 34 on the Fortune 500. Dell's climb to market leadership is the result of a persistent focus on delivering the best possible customer experience by directly selling standards-based computing products and services. Revenue for the last four quarters totaled $58.2 billion and the company employs approximately 90,400 team members around the globe.

Dell was founded in 1984 by Michael Dell, the longest-tenured executive to lead a company in the computer industry. The company is based on a simple concept: by selling computer systems directly to customers, Dell could best understand their needs and efficiently provide the most effective computing solutions to meet those needs. This direct business model eliminates retailers that add unnecessary time and cost, or can diminish Dell's understanding of customer expectations. The direct model allows the company to build every system to order and offer customers powerful, richly configured systems at competitive prices. Dell also introduces the latest relevant technology much more quickly than companies with slow-moving, indirect distribution channels.

The Dell Effect

For more than 20 years, Dell has revolutionized the industry to make computing accessible to customers around the globe, including businesses, institutional organizations and individual consumers. Because of Dell's direct model—and the industry's response to it—information technology is more powerful, easier to use and more affordable, giving customers the opportunity to take advantage of powerful new tools to improve their businesses and personal lives.

Dell has demonstrated this effect time and again as it enters new, standardized product categories, such as network servers, workstations, mobility products, printers and other electronic accessories. Nearly one out of every five standards-based computer system sold in the world today is a Dell. This global reach indicates our direct approach is relevant across product lines, regions and customer segments.

Balancing Liquidity, Profitability and Growth

Dell's high return to shareholders has been the result of a focused effort over time to balance growth with profitability and liquidity. Dell has consistently led its largest competitors in each of those categories.