FORTUNE — Dell Inc. shareholders last Thursday approved a $25 billion buyout of the company by founder and CEO Michael Dell, working in partnership with private equity firm Silver Lake.
The vote came more than 14 months after Dell and Silver Lake first discussed the possibility of such a transaction, and seven months after the agreement was first announced. Along the way there have been several twists and turns, including interest from The Blackstone Group (BX) and a challenge from Carl Icahn that resulted in a small price bump for Dell (DELL) shareholders.
Through it all, Michael Dell has kept mostly silent — voicing his views only occasionally via statements filed with the SEC. But now he’s free of those legal shackles, and was scheduled to talk with Fortune after the vote. In general, I had told him that I wanted to discuss three topics:
- 1. What impact the long process had on the company, for both clients and employees.
- 2. Thoughts on M&A after the buyout closes, particularly since Silver Lake has talked about future investment in the business.
- 3. Thoughts on Carl Icahn’s involvement and tactics.
Unfortunately, the CEO got behind schedule and dropping us was the best way to get his trains running on time again. But on Saturday, Michael Dell sent me a series of Twitter direct messages. “Hopefully I answered your main questions,” he added at the end.
So this certainly isn’t the interview I was looking to conduct (or really even an interview at all), but sometimes you’ve got to take what you can get. Below are Michael Dell’s tweets:
