Dell to acquire Perot Systems for $3.9 billion (updated)

Dell will purchase Perot Systems, a major healthcare information technology company, for $3.9 billion.

Update: The deal is Dell's biggest ever and the most striking move beyond its core personal-computer business, where profits have dwindled. Combining Perot with Dell's existing services would bring Dell an $8 billion a year tech-services business and a shot at competing better with International Business Machines Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and others in selling services such as email systems and back-office computers. Dell and Perot were already working together on some medical projects, but the combination brings tremendous firepower to the task. Perot serves 1,000 hospitals — more, it says, than any other services firm. And Perot already helps automate the patient records of 200,000 doctors.