The news at a glance

Tech: Dell buyout sparks bidding war

A bidding war is brewing over Dell, said Sharon Terlep and David Benoit in The Wall Street Journal. The PC-maker’s founder and chief executive, Michael Dell, has teamed up with private-equity firm Silver Lake to take his company private for $24.4 billion, or just under $13.65 per share. But last week, a special committee of Dell board members said it had received a “potentially superior” offer from private-equity firm Blackstone Group, which said it would pay $14.25 a share. Carl Icahn, who owns about 4.6 percent of Dell’s outstanding shares, has also submitted a rival bid to oppose the management-led buyout, and is proposing $15 per share.

The competing bids may have the company’s founder worried, said Greg Roumeliotis and Soyoung Kim in Reuters.com. As part of his deal with the Dell board, “Michael Dell has to explore the possibility of working with third parties on alternative offers.” But he is reportedly “very concerned that Blackstone’s offer would dismantle” the company and jeopardize his own future there. Blackstone has already approached at least one outsider “to run Dell if it takes over the company.” Meanwhile, the company’s shares hit 10-month highs, “indicating investors expect a deal to be done at a price higher than the Silver Lake bid.”

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Investors: Buffett increases Goldman Sachs stake

Warren Buffett is about to become one of Goldman Sachs’s biggest shareholders, and he won’t have to pay a dime, said Noah Buhayar and Christine Harper in Bloomberg.com. In 2008, Buffett received five-year warrants in exchange for investing $5 billion in Goldman Sachs. Under the original deal, Buffett had a right to buy 43.5 million Goldman Sachs shares for $115 apiece. But under the revised deal, announced last week, Buffett will simply receive a 2 percent stake in the company, saving him transaction costs and locking him in as one of the firm’s top stakeholders.

Banks: Citi must clean up money-laundering act

Citigroup has been ordered to tighten up its anti-money-laundering controls, said Donal Griffin in The Washington Post. In a consent order last week, the Federal Reserve ordered the bank to explain what measures it takes to stem the flow of illicit funds. Last year, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency criticized the bank for failing to conduct due diligence on its customers and dragging its heels in issuing “suspicious activity reports.” Citi now has 60 days to submit a written plan outlining its compliance and internal controls.

Acquisitions: Teen becomes Yahoo millionaire

Yahoo just minted a teenage millionaire, said Oliver Joy in CNN.com. The Silicon Valley company has acquired Summly, a 17-year-old London teenager’s tech startup, as part of a “multimillion-dollar deal.” Nick D’Aloisio, whose past investors include Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing and actors Ashton Kutcher and Stephen Fry, launched Summly when he was just 15. Its main product is a mobile app that “delivers automated snapshots of news stories” to mobile users; it won one of Apple’s Best Apps of 2012 awards. A Yahoo executive said the app provides “a simple and elegant way to find the news you want, faster than ever before.”

Airlines: Boeing 787 completes test flight

The Boeing Dreamliner’s first test flight was “utterly uneventful,” said Jason Paur in Wired—and that “was the best possible outcome” for Boeing. The company this week tested a redesigned battery system for its troubled jet after weeks of scrambling to fix an issue that has grounded all 50 Dreamliners worldwide since January. The test flight was part of a certification plan approved by the Federal Aviation Administration that Boeing hopes will soon get its fleet cleared for service.