KKR, TPG, Carlyle and Blackstone take Dell private (2007)
In what was the largest private-equity deal ever at the time, a consortium of the biggest PE firms in the world, together with founder Michael Dell, took Dell Computer private for $24.4 billion. The deal was notable not just for its size but for its structure: the sponsors, together with the founder, bought the company with the explicit plan to return it to public markets a few years later. It was a new kind of LBO, built for a company in transition.
Why it mattered
It was the largest PE deal ever at the time and proved that a consortium of multiple sponsors could work together to take a mega cap technology company private. The structure, with the founder rolling over equity and the sponsors providing the rest, set the template for later large take privates. It also showed that PE could own and modernize a major technology business, not just industrial and financial companies.