It’s a drop in the bucket for Michael Dell, who’s worth $65.3 billion.
Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, is the 20th-richest person in the world. But it seems like the tech bro is getting ready to offload some of that wealth.
Recently, Dell converted 25 million shares in his company from unlisted Class A stocks to listed Class C, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. In total, those shares could be worth an eye-popping $1.74 billion. The shift was completed in anticipation of a “future charitable donation of some or all of the shares,” according to a Dell company filing reviewed by Bloomberg. (A spokesperson for DFO Management, Dell’s family office, declined to comment to the outlet.)
Dell founded his computer company back in 1984, and it’s made him a wealthy, wealthy man. He’s currently worth $65.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, thanks in part to the stock he holds in the company.
The businessman’s charitable giving has a precedent: In October, he donated 5.2 million shares worth some $350 million, Bloomberg noted. Those stocks went to donor-advised funds and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, which aims to work with education, health, and economic-opportunity causes. The charitable organization’s $1.6 billion in assets helps support its goal of “accelerating human opportunity across the world.” Earlier this week, Dell gave almost 250,000 additional shares to his family foundation. (A spokesperson for the group told Bloomberg that it had no information on Dell’s plans.)
In total, about 60 percent of Dell’s giving this year went to donor-advised funds, which aren’t obligated to share whether assets have been donated or whom they went to. Bloomberg noted that such entities can allow donors to take a tax deduction, while also masking or postponing their giving.
Although Dell is interested in using his vast fortune for good, he’s also historically used it for his own enjoyment, especially when it comes to real estate. In 2018, the tech founder shelled out $100 million for a penthouse at the One57 building in New York, making it the most expensive penthouse ever sold in the city at the time. And in 2019, he spent $875 million to take over the historic Boca Raton hotel property.
It must be nice to be able to afford all of that and still have a little extra to donate elsewhere.
