Blackstone Is Said to Drop Out of the Bidding for Dell - NYTimes.com

Looks like Silver Lake "wins" after all

"The private equity giant, along with a separate bidder, the activist investor Carl C. Icahn, had been inspecting the books of the personal computer maker before deciding whether to make a rival bid to the $13.65-a-share offer to take the company private from the company’s founder, Michael S. Dell, and Silver Lake Partners, a technology-focused private equity firm.
Blackstone decided to withdraw after discovering that Dell’s business was deteriorating faster than it previously understood, the people involved in the negotiations said."

Blackstone Is Said to Drop Out of the Bidding for Dell - NYTimes.com