Dell to go private in $24.4 billion buyout

Michael Dell will take Dell private in a $24.4 billion deal that marks the biggest leveraged buyout since the financial crisis.

The company's founder and CEO and private equity firm Silver Lake are paying $13.65 per share in cash for the world's No. 3 computer maker.

The parties expect the transaction to close before the end of the second quarter of Dell's fiscal 2014.

News of the buyout talks first emerged on Jan. 14, although they reportedly started in the latter part of 2012. Michael Dell previously acknowledged thinking about going private as far back as 2010.

"I think the key question here is will shareholders approve this deal, because there is practically no premium where the stock is trading," Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said.