EMC Shareholders Approve Merger With Dell -- Update

By Rachael King 

EMC Corp. shareholders Tuesday approved Dell Inc.'s $60 billion offer, in what would be the largest technology merger ever.

The newly combined entity, to be named Dell Technologies, aims to be a one-stop shop for information technology sold to businesses. It will consolidate diverse products and services under one umbrella, including personal computers, servers, storage and networking equipment.

All that remains for the deal to move forward is regulatory approval from China.

"The board evaluated numerous options and decided that the merger with Dell is the best outcome," EMC Chief Executive Joe Tucci said before the vote.

Dell, a leading maker of PCs and servers, is battling persistent declines in computer sales as users turn to mobile devices and other newer form factors. In acquiring EMC's line of data-storage hardware -- including VMware Inc.'s data center software -- it aims to create the leading one-stop shop for information technology sold to businesses.

Once combined, the two companies plan to help customers move to cloud computing, which likely would be a hybrid approach that includes both cloud and on-premises operations, said one person familiar with the matter.

The deal will also let Dell exploit a product category pioneered by EMC, known as converged infrastructure, to sell computing, storage and networking equipment as an easy-to-install bundle.

The merger, in addition to being the largest tech deal in history, is extraordinarily complex. Dell, which is privately held, aims to buy not only EMC but its Byzantine federation of wholly and partially owned subsidiaries, including cybersecurity firm RSA Security LLC, software development company Pivotal Software Inc., in addition to virtualization software vendor VMware.

The deal will give current EMC shareholders a tracking stock for VMware shares. Consequently, the privately held Dell will issue quarterly financial reports.

EMC on Monday reported second-quarter profit rose 19% and that both bottom and top lines beat analyst expectations.

Tess Stynes contributed to this article

Write to Rachael King at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 19, 2016 11:31 ET (15:31 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.