Dell reports 79% fall in profits as more consumers shift to smartphones and tablets

Dell has reported a 79% slide in net profit, underlining a fall in personal computers sales as more consumers shift to smartphones and tablets.

The PC maker’s net profit fell to $130 million in the three months to May 3, on revenue down 2% to $14 billion.

Dell is in the middle of a dispute between founder Michael Dell and two of its biggest shareholders.

Michael Dell wants to take the company private, but some investors oppose the plan.

Dell has reported a 79 percent slide in net profit, underlining a fall in PC sales as more consumers shift to smartphones and tablets

Michael Dell and private equity group Silver Lake have offered to buy back the company for $24.4 billion, and have pledged to shift the business away from PCs to mobile devices.

But its biggest shareholders – the investor Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management – have argued that the valuation of the company is too cheap, and that Michael Dell’s deal is a “giveaway”.

Instead, they have proposed to offer additional shares to shareholders and install mew management.

In its quarterly results, Dell said that revenue from new technologies, services and software, rose 12% to $5.5 billion. That was in contrast to PC sales, which fell 9%.

Dell did not issue a profit guidance for the second quarter due to the ongoing dispute. The company has created a special committee of the board to study the private equity deal and alternative bids.