EMC, founded in 1979 by
Richard Egan and
Roger Marino (the E and M of EMC), introduced its first 64-
kilobyte (65,536 bytes) memory boards for the
Prime Computer in 1981. EMC continued to develop memory boards for other computer types. In the mid-1980s, the company expanded beyond memory to other
computer data storage types and networked storage platforms. EMC began shipping its flagship product, the
Symmetrix, in 1990. While some of EMC's growth is credited to acquisitions of smaller companies, Symmetrix was the main factor in EMC's rapid growth during the 1990s, from a firm valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars to a multi-billion dollar company. In 2009 EMC signed a two-year deal to be the principal shirt sponsor for English Rugby Union club London Wasps in a deal worth £1 Million. This was later extended until the end of the 2013 season. Michael Ruettgers joined EMC in 1988 and was CEO from 1992 until January 2001. Under Ruettgers' leadership, EMC revenues grew from $120 million to nearly $9 billion 10 years later, and the company shifted its focus from memory boards to storage systems. Ruettgers was named one of
BusinessWeeks "World's Top 25 Executives"; one of the "Best Chief Executive Officers in America" by
Worth magazine; and one of
Network Worlds "25 Most Powerful People in Networking".
Acquisition by Dell On October 12, 2015,
Dell Inc. announced its intent to acquire EMC in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $67 billion, which as of 2021 remains the largest-ever acquisition in the technology sector. The combination of Dell's enterprise server, personal computer, and mobile businesses with EMC's enterprise storage business was a significant vertical merger of IT giants. Dell offered $24.05 per share of EMC, and $9.05 per share of
tracking stock in
VMware. On September 7, 2016, Dell Inc. completed the merger to form
Dell Technologies, which involved the issuance of $45.9 billion in debt and $4.4 billion common stock. Starting in 2018 and more prominently in 2019, Dell began transitioning from using "Dell EMC" to "Dell Technologies" as its brand name. ==Products and services==