Michael Dell, Founder and CEO of Dell Inc.

Michael Dell is an American business man and a billionaire who is famous as the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the biggest PC and laptop makers in the world – Dell Inc.  Dell revolutionized the personal computer industry by skipping the middle man and selling directly to the customer. He also innovated PC manufacturing by developing a process to mass-produce individually made-to-order computers. He then enabled customers to order these personalized computers directly online. His innovations in manufacturing and distribution have made him one of the most successful businessmen of our time.

  

BACKGROUND AND RISE

Michael Dell was born in 23rd February, the year of 1965 .He studied primarily in his home town of Huston in Texas. But he was curious towards business and entrepreneurship since his teenage days. Thus, during his holidays he used to invest some small amounts in stocks. He even used to sell subscriptions of Huston Post daily newspaper. He studied that newly married couples used to subscribe more than other folks. So he made a list of people getting married in Huston and, guess what, that summer he made $18,000 for himself. He was enrolled as a student in University of Texas in Austin. But he wasn’t much serious towards studies. Business was all he thought about and money was the only thing which attracted him. He started another small business of upgrading computers from dormitory while at college. It was such a hit off that he eventually got it licensed and did it on a bigger scale. Michael Dell started the road to success out of his University of Texas dorm room in 1984 with just $1,000 and an idea to provide affordable personal computers to college students.

In 1984, he thought that rather than assembling PC components and upgrading them, it would be a lot more beneficial and cost effective if they themselves manufactured the PCs themselves and thus in May 1984 Dell incorporation was born. That year, Dell Corporation made PCs for more than $80,000. From that year onwards Dell had no stopping. He progressed by leaps and bounds.

He was crowned as, ‘the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company’ in 1992. He was 24 years old then. The thing which made Dell Inc. the biggest PC maker was that in 1996 they started selling computers and laptops and even servers online on its website. In no time they reported over $1 million sales from online customers. Dell Corporation progressed limitless in the first decade of the new millennium.

Dell is the world's largest PC manufacturer, growing from $6 million annual revenue to over $40 billion in only sixteen years. It employs over 40,000 people in over 170 countries worldwide. Dell’s product line has diversified to includes not only PC’s and network servers, but storage systems, printers, hand-held computers, MP3 players, and televisions, plus a wide selection of computer services. Dell is the largest online computer retailer, selling an average of $30 million a day.

RECOGNITION:

In 1992 Dell became the youngest CEO ever to earn a ranking on the Fortune 500. Dell has also been recognized "Entrepreneur of the Year" by Inc. magazine, "Man of the Year" by PC magazine, "Top CEO in American Business" by Worth magazine, and "CEO of the Year" by Financial World and Industry Week. Dell Computer is also Fortune’s "America’s Most Admired Company" and #3 globally.

Michael is now Chairman and CEO of his company with a net worth of over $30 billion. Dell sells primarily direct to the customer to avoid middleman mark-ups.Today Michael Dell is still the CEO of Dell Inc and is worth more than $14 billion. He stays in Austin, Texas with his wife and two children. He has been awarded several awards for best CEO by several firms and institutions. Michael Dell is the author of Direct from Dell: Strategies That Revolutionized an Industry. The book includes the story about his rise to the top and also his business philosophy. Not even the age of forty and Michael Dell is one of the richest people in the world. As the famous founder and CEO of PC and laptop maker Dell Inc. he is 30th on the list of richest people in the world presently. Michael Dell, being a millionaire, has donated millions of dollars for philanthropic work. He has also redefined the PC and laptop industry. That is the major fact why he is honored in the business industry.