英语翻译
Dell Boy Made Good
Some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs cut their business teeth in the playground.Bernie Ecclestone sold Chelsea buns to his classmates,and Sir Richard Branson produced a student magazine.
Michael Dell,35,is no exception.At 12 he made $ 2000 (￡1255)selling his stamp collection and by 14 he had devised a marketing scheme to sell newspapers.
This earned him ￡11200—more money than some of his teachers were on—and led to the creation of Dell Computer Corporation,the industry’s fastest-growing company.
He is now the ninth—richest man in the world,with a personal fortune of ￡12.5 billion from seed capital of just ￡627 in 1984.
Within 16 years,sales have grown form ￡3.76 million to ￡25.3 billion.The company has opened offices in 34 countries and employs 36500 people.
Dell first dabbled in electronics at 15 when he was given a calculator by his father to help him in the after-school maths club he attended.
He says:” I was fascinated that this little device could do may maths homework,and it sparked an early interest in electronics.I loved taking things apart and putting things back together again,although I could not always get them working.
“I quickly became interested in personal computers when I was given an Apple II,and set up computer bulletin boards to swap ideas with other enthusiasts.I wanted to own every gadget possible.”
Dell attended a computer convention in Austin,Texas,and was astonished at the huge mark-ups.He found that the could buy a disk drive for ￡500,which would sell in the shops for ￡1882.
This discovery set him thinking,as a customer,about finding a way to by-pass the retailer.
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