• February 1, 2007

Michael Dell has taken back the day-to-day running of the company he founded, and is replacing Kevin Rollins as CEO, Dell Computer announced yesterday.

"The Board believes that Michael's vision and leadership are critical to building Dell's leadership in the technology industry for the long term," said Samuel A. Nunn, presiding director of Dell's Board. "There is no better person in the world to run Dell at this time than the man who created the Direct Model and who has built this company over the last 23 years."

Dell founded the company in 1984 with $1,000 and an unprecedented idea--to bypass the middleman and sell computer systems directly to the customer. He has served as the company's Chairman of the Board since its founding, and served as CEO until 2004.

"Dell has tremendous opportunities ahead of it," said Dell. "I am enthusiastic about Dell 2.0, which includes our plan to provide the best customer experience, build a strong global services business and ensure our products deliver the best long-term customer value."

The company also said that it expects its fourth-quarter Fiscal Year 2007 results to be below the average of First Call estimates for both revenue and earnings per share.