Shipments of personal computers declined 7.7 percent during the third quarter.
PC shipments totaled 73.7 million units in the quarter compared with 79.8 million during the same period last year, according to a preliminary report from Connecticut-based Gartner Inc. (NYSE: IT).
Round Rock-based Dell Inc., which ranked No. 3 with a 13.8 percent market share, reported 0.5 percent growth in shipments during the quarter and a 1.1 percent rise in market share. No. 1, Lenovo Group Ltd., reported a 4 percent decline in shipments but a 0.7 percent increased market share.
California-based Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) ranked No. 2 with 18.5 percent market share, according to the report.
Dell, which employs an estimated 13,000 workers in Central Texas, completed a shareholder buyout in 2013 to ostensibly provide executives more flexibility to diversify the company beyond PCs to the higher profit margins provided by software and services..
The $24.9 billion buyout was completed by an investor group led by CEO Michael Dell and California-based Silver Lake Partners. CEO Michael Dell now owns 75 percent of the company.