Dell Computer Corp. was founded in 1984 by Michael S. Dell. Four years later in 1988, Dell became a publicly traded company with 3.5 million shares at $8.50 each. Four more years later, Dell was ranked in the Fortune 500 roster with Michael Dell as the youngest CEO to be ranked on this list. In 1996 Dell's stock raises to about $100 per share pre-split. One year later this number is multiplied by 10 and stock is up to a startling $1000 a share pre-split.
Date Event Per-Share Price Presplit Stock Price
June 22, 1988 Initial Public Offering $8.50 --
April 9, 1992 Three-for-Two Split 25.81 38.72
Oct. 27, 1995 Two-for-One Split 45.00 135.00
Dec. 6, 1996 Two-for-One Split 56.75 340.50
July 25, 1997 Two-for-One Split 81.50 978.00
March 6, 1998 Two-for-One Split 69.25 1,662.00
Sept. 4, 1998 Two-for-One Split 54.75 2,628.00
March 5, 1999 Two-for-One Split 43.03 4,131.00
Jan. 28, 2000 Close of Last Quarter 37.25 3,576.00
Also in 1997, Internet sales reached $1 million per day. In 1999, a mere fifteen years since the start of this company, Internet sales reach $35 million per day. Dell Computer Corp. is ranked No, 4 in the Fortune 500 ranking, and Wall Street named it the No. 1 return in total return investors over the past three, five, and ten years. Also in the past 15 years Dell Computers' total sales have grown from $6 million to $23.6 billion!
Since 1995 Dell stock has had a slow but steady increase:
The top six competitors to Dell are Compaq Computer Corp., Gateway Inc., Apple Computer Inc., Micron Electronics Inc., Bitwise Designs Inc., Paravant Inc., and Hertz Technology Group. Dell Computer Corp. is worth about four times the amount of its closest competitor, Compaq Computer Corp.
DELL COMPUTER CORP DELL $120,402,198
COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP CPQ $44,785,125
APPLE COMPUTER INC AAPL $19,722,642
MICRON ELECTRONICS INC MUEI $1,709,236
B...