Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, has made headlines once again with the sale of 10 million shares of his company, totaling $1.22 billion. This marks the second significant sale of Dell stock in September, fueling curiosity and speculation about his next move.
According to a Sept. 30 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dell offloaded 10 million shares while still retaining over 16.91 million shares valued at over $2 billion. Just days prior, on Sept. 23, Dell revealed another stock sale of 10 million shares worth approximately $1.17 billion, spread across seven transactions from Sept. 19 to Sept. 23.
The surge in Dell Technologies’ stock price—up 58.5% this year, according to Google Finance—has caught the attention of investors. The stock’s rise led to its reentry into the S&P 500 on Sept. 24, solidifying its place among the top 500 publicly traded companies in the U.S. This upward momentum is largely driven by the increasing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) technology, which has boosted the company’s server sales to accommodate AI application needs.
While the reason for Dell’s substantial stock sales remains unclear, the market response has been relatively calm. The company’s stock dipped only 0.33% in after-hours trading on Sept. 30 and saw a slight increase of 0.74% in the last five trading days.
Adding to the intrigue, Dell has recently sparked online speculation regarding his interest in Bitcoin. In a series of cryptic posts on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) in June, Dell shared comments such as “Scarcity creates value,” a phrase often associated with Bitcoin’s limited supply of 21 million coins. This post caught the attention of Bitcoin advocate and MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor, who responded with, “Bitcoin is Digital Scarcity.” Dell later reposted Saylor’s reply and shared an AI-generated image of Cookie Monster eating Bitcoin-themed cookies, further fueling the speculation.
Despite these Bitcoin-related hints, Dell Technologies has not added Bitcoin to its balance sheet as of the company’s Q2 2023 earnings report. Instead, the company saw a 9% year-over-year revenue increase and record-breaking growth in server and networking sales, up 80% from the previous year.
As Michael Dell continues to sell off portions of his stake in Dell Technologies, industry watchers are left to ponder whether his next move will be in AI, Bitcoin, or another frontier altogether.
