Privacy push drops Dell's profits

Michael Dell's push to make Dell private has hit company profit, with the world's third largest PC maker reporting a 31% decline in its fiscal fourth quarter.

The company posted a net income of US$530 million (30 cents a share) on revenue of $14.3 billion, slightly beating analyst expectations for the period.

Despite matching expectations more or less, Dell have little reason to get excited, with declining revenue not a strong marker for the company moving forward.

But founder Dell may have bigger problems on his hands, with the 14% of shareholders in the company planning to vote against his privacy deal.

Dell was forced into an official response against shareholders last week, disgruntled with the company’s US$13.95-a-share bid to take the firm private.

Given the company’s announcement earlier this month of a definitive merger agreement to take Dell private, it is not providing an outlook for its fiscal 2014 or Q1.

Dell plans to team up with private equity firm Silver Lake and Microsoft in an proposed $24.4 billion deal.