Dell's approach was actually more like the classic "taking a company private again", where you use public equity markets to grow big but keep control, then take it private at terms that don't really reward shareholders for the massive growth. This looks like the modern variety of PE capturing predictable revenues from a large, mature client base that can pay their fund the expected returns for the next 5-7 years. It's boring as hell and never means (a) a better product, or (b) a bigger pay-off for employees.
