Dell shares fell 11.1 percent on Wednesday, wiping out more than $20 billion of wealth from Dell, which fell from fourth to fifth in the global rankings, according to Forbes.
Dell’s net worth hit an estimated $256.6 billion after the company’s shares plummeted to their biggest intra-day loss since July. The plunge came after Barclays analyst Tim Long cut the stock from “overweight” to “equal-weight” in a note ahead of the market open, Forbes reported.
The downgrade raised further alarms about the viability of the company’s growth given the increased investment in the infrastructure of AI.
Demand for Dell’s AI servers and data centre equipment remains high. Analysts are uncertain if this will translate into sustainable growth and have also expressed concerns about increasing memory prices.
Dell lagged Google co-founder Sergey Brin, whose estimated net worth was $262.3 billion, according to Forbes’ list of the world’s billionaires.
The fall came as investors took profits on tech shares in general as they pondered inflation figures and interest rates.
Dell, the chief executive and founder of Dell Technologies, had moved up to second place in the global wealth rankings in September, before the recent market downturn.
