Today in business: 5 things you need to know

1. DELL DELAYS A BUYOUT VOTE

Dell delayed its shareholder vote on whether or not CEO Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners will take the company private for $24.4 billion. At a special shareholders meeting in Texas, Dell called the assembly to order, then quickly shut it down without a formal vote, explaining later in a statement that he and his partners needed "additional time to solicit proxies from Dell stockholders." Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn has refused to drop his opposing offer. [USA Today]

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2. BOEING'S LATEST FIRE WAS CAUSED BY A TRANSMITTER BATTERY

British investigators found the likely source of last week's Boeing 787 Dreamliner fire: A disruption in the battery cells of an emergency transmitter. The agency recommended that the batteries be disconnected on all 787 Dreamliners, and urged the Federal Aviation Administration to review the use of the transmitters on thousands of other planes. Boeing, which had to ground its whole fleet of Dreamliners due to another problem in January, is relieved the problem stemmed from a generic part used on many types of planes, not the custom Dreamliner system. [CNN]

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3. MORGAN STANLEY SURGES IN THE SECOND QUARTER

The investment bank Morgan Stanley posted a $1 billion profit for the second quarter, and announced it would repurchase 500 million of its shares. Morgan Stanley is just the latest Wall Street titan to report eye-popping profits this quarter, with one Citibank analyst calling the numbers "very supportive of the bull case." [Forbes]

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4. SAMSUNG NEARS TWO CONTRACTS WITH U.S. GOVERNMENT

South Korean company Samsung is close to signing contracts with both the FBI and the U.S. Navy — more bad news for BlackBerry, which has been dominating government telecommunications contracts for years. Samsung has been investing resources in securing these deals, strategically poaching BlackBerry executives and adding a layer of security to the operating system on some devices. Though these orders are expected to be pretty small, they could lead to similar deals with other agencies. [The Wall Street Journal]

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5. CLAIMS FOR JOBLESS BENEFITS FALL

The number of people filing initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by 24,000 to 334,000 last week, beating expectations, the Labor Department said Thursday. [Fox Business]