Round Rock, Texas — Citing plunging PC sales, the Blackstone Group today withdrew from the bidding war to acquire Dell.
Blackstone executives broke the news to Dell’s board of directors in a letter today. The equity group had offered $14.25 per share and planned to take the company private.
Blackstone’s move now leaves just two bidders. One is a group that includes Dell founder Michael Dell, which has tendered an offer of $13.65 per share with Dell kicking in $4.5 billion of his own money. The other is Carl Icahn who would pay $15 per share for 58 percent of the company.
After the news Dell shares fell and were trading in the $14.43 range.
