7 months ago
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Michael Dell is one of the world's wealthiest people, with a net worth of more than $100 billion.
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The Dell Technologies founder made his fortune by democratizing the PC and striking shrewd deals.
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Here's a look at his background, career, and how he spends his fortune.
Michael Dell, the tech entrepreneur who helped bring the personal computer to the masses, ranks among the world's wealthiest people with a net worth of $108 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
From his early career as one of the youngest CEOs of a Fortune 500 company until now, Dell is used to getting his way. He was only 23 when his company had its IPO in 1988. Dell took the PC maker private in 2013 only to relist it five years later, and has now shifted the company's focus toward serving the artificial intelligence boom.
Dell lives the extravagant life of a successful business figure as well, complete with all of the private planes, summer homes, and sweet rides you'd expect from a billionaire.
Michael Dell was born on Feb. 23, 1965, in Houston, Texas.
Dell was fascinated with gadgets from a young age. When he was 15, he bought one of the first Apple computers and disassembled it to see if he could put it back together.
Source: Academy of Achievement
When Dell was in high school, he got a job selling newspaper subscriptions.
After figuring out how to target an untapped customer base, he made $18,000 in just one year.
Source: Academy of Achievement
Though he was really only interested in computers, Dell entered the University of Texas at Austin as a pre-med student in 1983.
He spent his spare time upgrading PCs and selling them from his dorm room, making $180,000 in his first month of business. Though Dell never came back for his sophomore year, he returned to his dorm for a photo opp in 1999.
Source: Entrepreneur
In 2018, Dell tweeted out the first financial statement from his dorm PC company.
Dell used the statement to convince his parents that he didn't have to go back to college.
He sold nearly $1 million worth of computers and, after paying salaries and expenses, made over $198,000 in gross profit.
He officially launched his company in 1984, under the name PC's Limited.
It soon became one of the fastest-growing companies in the country, raking in more than $6 million in sales in its first year of business.
Source: Entrepreneur
He changed the company's name to Dell Computer Corp. in 1987, and sales continued to soar.
It went public in 1988, raising $30 million. Dell made about $18 million from the deal, and by 1992, the 27-year-old CEO was the youngest person to lead a Fortune 500 company.
