The ongoing slump in PC sales is taking its toll on Dell. The Texas-based computer maker reported a 79 per cent plunge in first-quarter profits on Thursday, earning $ 130 million, compared to the $ 635 million a year earlier.
Dell said that sales dipped just 2 per cent to 14.1 billion, but the company had to spend a lot to acquire many of those sales in the enterprise solutions sector to compensate for lower consumer sales which dropped by 9 per cent to $ 8.9 billion.
The downbeat results came amidst a fierce buyout battle for the company, which earlier this year agreed to be taken private by founder Michael Dell and a consortium of private equity companies.
That $ 24.4 billion deal is being challenged by activist shareholder Carl Icahn and allies.