Call it the billion-dollar bromance.
The growing friendship between President Donald Trump and Michael Dell has coincided with a banner year for the billionaire CEO.
Dell shares are up 240% this year, while the man himself has added $83.5 billion to his net worth. He’s now the world’s 6th-richest person with a staggering $223 billion to his name.
BI’s Polly Thompson has more on how Dell’s relationship with Trump has paid off big time.
Business people buddying up to Trump, or any politician, isn’t groundbreaking. However, Dell’s approach came with low reputational risk: giving money to kids.
The cornerstone of the recent bonding has been Dell and his wife, Susan, contributing $6.25 billion to Trump Accounts back in December. Since then, Trump has purchased more than $1 million in Dell stock, and the company won a $9.7 billion contract with the US Department of Defense.
And then there was the public endorsement from the president, who put the spotlight on Dell in a way it hasn’t enjoyed since the “Dude, you’re getting a Dell” commercials of the early 2000s.
“They are truly incredible people. Go out and buy a Dell computer,” Trump told reporters earlier this month. “I have a son that loves their laptop.”
Having the president’s backing doesn’t hurt, but it’s AI giving Dell the real boost.
Revenue from Dell’s infrastructure group, which sells AI-optimized servers alongside storage, networking and related services, nearly tripled in the first quarter from a year ago. The unit generated a record $29 billion, accounting for roughly two-thirds of Dell’s overall revenue.
AI infrastructure is an area that’s been red hot. Shares of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, whose ProLiant servers compete directly with Dell’s, are up more than 95% this year.
Dell has also continued to shrink its workforce, dropping its headcount by 27% over the past three years.
Regardless of who or what is driving Dell to new heights — Trump and/or the AI boom — both forces come with plenty of volatility.
Just ask Elon Musk what happens when you get on the president’s bad side. (Although I think he’s doing just fine.) And the ebbs and flows of AI innovation have sent semiconductor stocks on a rollercoaster.
For now, Dell is benefiting from both forces.
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