Posted on Friday, February 02 2007 @ 2:55 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
After less than three years, Michael Dell retook
the reins as CEO at Dell.
Dell Inc.'s founder and chairman took the reins as chief executive officer again late yesterday, ousting his hand-picked successor, Kevin Rollins, after less than three years. That leaves Dell to recapture the lead in global PC sales from Hewlett-Packard Co. and revive profit growth. Dell said results for the three months through January will trail analysts' estimates for a third time in four quarters.
``It's not going to be easy,'' said Christopher Meeker, an analyst at Farr Miller & Washington LLC in Washington, which owns 350,000 Dell shares. ``I'm not sure if it's harder to rebuild a company with $40 to $50 billion in revenue than start a company in your dorm room, but the economics are very different now.''
Dropping out of the lead in PC sales isn't the only issue Dell, 41, must address. The U.S. government is investigating the Round Rock, Texas-based company's accounting. Profit margins shrank amid price-cutting to regain market share. And Dell is struggling to repair its image with the U.S. consumers after poor customer service led them to shun the brand.
