Microsoft has agreed to provide a loan of $2 billion to Dell group to help it go private. The sole reason behind getting Dell private is to help the firm, not gain an equity stake or operational control over its longtime partner.
In a statement issued, Microsoft wrote the following:
Microsoft has provided a $2 billion loan to the group that has proposed to take Dell private. Microsoft is committed to the long term success of the entire PC ecosystem and invests heavily in a variety of ways to build that ecosystem for the future.
We’re in an industry that is constantly evolving. As always, we will continue to look for opportunities to support partners who are committed to innovating and driving business for their devices and services built on the Microsoft platform.”
As we know, Dell’s majority of the products already use the Windows operating system. Moreover, Microsoft sees the long term success of the entire PC ecosystem behind this proposal. It very well knows, the landscape for computing and devices is changing radically. So, change in approach is necessary! As such, may be the company is trying to gain more influence over the hardware supply chain, a departure from the long followed, software-centric approach that helped it flourish in the computing world once but is now increasingly under threat.
Whether Microsoft will benefit from this scheme, it remains to be seen. Microsoft says it’s all for the good of the industry.