Dell in talks to buy EMC

New York - Dell is also in talks to finance an all-cash offer for EMC.

Dell, the world's third-largest personal computer maker, is in talks to buy data storage company EMC, a person familiar with the matter said, in what could be one of the biggest technology deals ever.
A deal could be an option for EMC, under pressure from activist investor Elliott Management to spin off majority-owned VMware.
The terms being discussed were not known, but if the deal goes through it would top Avago Technologies' $37 billion offer for Broadcom. EMC has a market value of about $50 billion.
Dell is also in talks with banks to finance an all-cash offer for EMC, the person told Reuters on condition of anonymity as the talks were confidential.
Dell spokesman David Flink and EMC spokesman Dave Farmer declined to comment.
A deal could further strengthen Dell's presence among corporate clients at a time when founder Michael Dell has been trying to transform the company he founded in 1984 into a complete provider of enterprise computing services such as Hewlett-Packard and IBM.
The talks come two years after Michael Dell and private-equity firm Silver Lake took Dell private for $24.9 billion, ending its decades-long run as one of the world's largest publicly-traded PC makers.
Activist pressure
Elliott, which has been pressuring EMC to spin off VMware, agreed in January to refrain from agitating against EMC for eight months in exchange for two directors backed by Elliott. Reuters reported last week that Elliott plans to give EMC most of October to respond to its demands after the standstill agreement expired, hoping the extra time would give EMC more room to craft a response to avoid an activist campaign.
"Of all the options potentially on the table, we would view a merger with the now-private Dell as a nightmare scenario that would lack strategic synergies and further complicate EMC's troubled growth path," said FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives.