Dell-boy began life as wheeler-dealer aged 9

Anyone monitoring Michael Dell when he got his first chequebook at the age of nine, and speculated profitably in gold, silver, and stocks at age 13, will hardly be surprised at the success of his company and its annual revenues of $11 billion.

When he was 12, Mr Dell procured a reseller's licence and conducted a nationwide mail-order stamp auction for a net profit of $2,000. The foundations had been laid for the success which was to follow.

Mr Dell entered the University of Texas in 1983, originally intending to major in biology, but became sidelined in his freshman year into his own cottage-dorm room industry.

As a computer hobbyist, Mr Dell saw that local computer dealers were receiving more IBM PCs than they could handle, so he stepped into the breach offering to buy surplus stock at cost.

He then upgraded their components and sold them directly to customers. Though he may have been unaware of it at the time, at the age of 18, he had pioneered the direct sales model upon which his billion-dollar business is based today.

Mr Dell's final exams results were less than impressive, though it's likely the profits from his new sideline more than compensated for the disappointment. By the end of his first college year, it was generating sales of $50,000 a month.

Regardless of the phenomenal success of his nixer, Mr and Mrs Dell senior were wholly unimpressed with their son's academic performance.

They insisted he stop selling computers and concentrate more on his studies.

"Basically, I said OK, fine, and stopped selling computers. I went cold turkey for about 30 days, and it just drove me crazy. I couldn't stand it. And so then I went back and formulated that plan to start the company.

"Interestingly enough, if my parents hadn't told me to stop, I perhaps would have never started the company. I didn't really know how much I was enjoying it until somebody told me I couldn't do it," Mr Dell said in a recent interview.

He dropped out of college, and in 1988 brought the company public under the name Dell Computer Corporation.

The company was an instant success, being the world's first computer company to sell directly over the phone, and Dell became one of the first symbols of Texan prowess in the technology industry.

Dell encountered difficulties in 1993 as a direct result of its phenomenal growth. Sales boomed to $2 billion, and the company began to spin out of control. The chief financial officer deserted the company, and Dell lost $38 million in currency hedges.

Mr Dell brought in a new management team which would finetune the "build-to-order" model. Today, Dell serves more than twothirds of America's Fortune 500 companies.

Like his multi-millionaire technology counterparts, Bill Gates and Larry Ellison, Mr Dell went down the "flash-pad" route, and erected a $19 million home - the biggest house in Austin, Texas. Married with two children, and worth $3.3 billion today, he carries the distinction of being the youngest CEO of any company named on the Fortune 500.

One of Mr Dell's more interesting idiosyncrasies includes not keeping a chair in his office. "I think faster on my feet," he says.