Dell's $67 billion buyout of EMC and VMware will proceed and close on schedule -- only an "Act of God" can stop it. That was the message from EMC lead director William Green, who delivered the statement at a Goldman Sachs’ technology conference in San Francisco today.
Without looking to the heavens, Michael Dell and EMC CEO Joe Tucci have made similar statements in recent weeks, assuring investors, partners and customers that the Dell-EMC business combination will be finalized somewhere between May and October of 2016.
Those statements are meant to counter skeptics and disgruntled investors, some of whom have been arguing for Dell to improve financial terms for the deal. A higher sale price for EMC and VMware, however, seems unlikely. During a "go shop" period in 2015, no additional bidders from EMC emerged.
Dell-EMC Partner Commitments
Dell, EMC and VMware also continue to promote their unified vision to channel partners. Former AMD CEO and Lenovo veteran Rory Read is leading Dell's integration team for the EMC buyout. Read is a very channel-friendly executive, having bet Lenovo's North America business on partners during his time at that PC maker.
VMware, meanwhile, is gearing up for its first VMware Partner Leadership Conference (March 6-9, Arizona). During the invite-only event, the company is expected to more clearly describe its overall cloud strategy. CEO Pat Gelsinger clarified VMware's cloud strategy a bit during a January 2016 earnings call, and the company's channel team is expected to reinforce Gelsinger's points during the conference.
Also, EMC World 2016 (May 2-5, Las Vegas) will host Michael Dell as a keynote speaker. Dell could own EMC by the time that conference arrives.
Both EMC and VMware have cut some staff in recent weeks. But channel-centric developments also have continued. EMC announced some partner program enhancements in January, and VMware to unveiled a range of End User Computing product enhancements that could give mobile and cloud partners a boost.
