This Day In Market History: The Dell IPO

Each day, Benzinga takes a look back at a notable market-related moment that occurred on this date.

What Happened? On this day in 1988, Dell Computer Corp. went public.

Where The Market Was: The Dow closed at 2,152.20. The S&P 500 traded at around 275.66.

What Else Was Going On In The World? The U.S. Senate ratified the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which mandated that the U.S. and the USSR eliminate nuclear missiles. The average price of a new car was $10,400.

The Dell IPO: Dell founder Michael Dell dropped out of college in 1984 at age 19 to start computer company PC's Limited. The company went public just four years later under the name Dell Computer Corp, raising $30 million and valuing the company at about $85 million. IPO shares priced at $8.50 per share, or a split-adjusted 9 cents per share.

By 1992, Dell had become the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company at age 27.

Dell hit a peak market cap of $100 billion in 2000 before a slowdown in the PC market started weighing on the stock.

In 2013, Dell agreed to be taken private at a price of $13.65 per share and a value of $24.4 billion.

A reformed Dell Technologies Inc DELL went public again in December 2018.

Related Links:

This Day In Market History: Penn Central Bankruptcy

Michael Dell's Relationship With Shareholders: It's Complicated

Photo credit: Gaming Laptop, via Wikimedia Commons.