It’s a good year to be Michael Dell.

His net worth exceeds $80 billion. His company’s shares are up 240% as it rides a wave of AI-powered growth. And, most importantly, Dell, 61, has found favor with perhaps the most influential man in the world: President Donald Trump.

Last week, Dell laptops received a resounding presidential endorsement that boosted the company’s stock.

“Go out and buy a Dell computer,” Trump told reporters at the White House at the launch of Trump Accounts on July 6, repeating a recommendation he had made in May. Later that day, Dell joined the president for lunch in the Rose Garden.

The tech CEO’s recent public relationship with Trump has centered on Trump Accounts, the new children’s investment savings account, and has become one of the most visible (and stable) corporate relationships of the president’s second term.

The Dells (Michael and his wife Susan) made a $6.25 million contribution to the program through their family foundation in December and have appeared at several White House press days alongside the president.

The business world’s attitude toward Trump has changed since his first term, when cultivating a relationship with the president was often seen as a reputational risk. Now, many business leaders are working more closely with him.

The dynamic has seen the president put pressure on big laws, media organizations, universities and, most recently, World Cup organizers. For executives, currying Trump’s favor (or at least avoiding his criticism) can be a powerful incentive.

The Dell Foundation and Dell did not respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment.

Win Trump’s favor

Dell is exactly the kind of homegrown American success story the president likes. Michael Dell founded his PC company in his college dorm room and became the youngest CEO to run a Fortune 500 company, at age 27.

Dell had some involvement with the first Trump administration, joining the president’s American Manufacturing Council and attending a “Day 1” meeting of business leaders, but its dealings then with Trump were more limited.

Now things are different.

The two men have a good relationship, as seen in recent footage of Dell joking with the president about having a “Dellicopter” instead of a helicopter.

Trump accounts launched on July 4; Dell’s involvement in the program dates back at least a year: He was present at the first “Invest America” ​​roundtable (which became Trump Accounts) in June 2025. Dell told CNBC in December that he first became interested in generating investment accounts for children around 2021.

The Dell Foundation has long focused its philanthropic efforts on children, education and economic opportunity, aligning with the mission of Trump Accounts.

The billionaire CEO has quietly appeared at other government functions. In March, he joined the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, along with Marc Andreessen, Jensen Huang and Mark Zuckerberg. Dell previously served on the board during the administration of President George W. Bush.

Dell also attended a White House dinner for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in May.

“Michael and Susan Dell are patriots who are generously contributing billions of dollars of their fortune to the Trump Accounts of millions of children from working-class families,” said White House spokesman Kush Desai.

The president “rightly” praised Dell and others who have donated to the program, he added.

What stands out about Dell’s recent appearances is that unlike other big-name tech leaders, whose faces are often as well-known as the products their companies make, the billionaire CEO has tended to limit his time in the spotlight.

Dell rarely gives interviews or attends “it-crowd” events, and was absent from the group of tech moguls at Trump’s inauguration.

“They’re not big supporters of politicians like some of these other CEOs,” said Douglas Schuler, a professor of business and public policy at Rice Business School who specializes in corporate political activity.

“They appear to make political contributions to both sides of the aisle and to members of Congress where they have significant operations or jurisdiction over their business activities,” he said.

It’s the year of Dell

Dell’s relationship with Trump has coincided with a series of victories for the company.

Since the Dell Foundation announced its donation in December, the president has purchased more than $1 million in Dell stock. In April, he sold at least $50,000 in Dell stock and possibly as much as $100,000.

In February, Dell Technologies secured a $10 billion contract renewal with the U.S. Department of Defense. Navy Chief Information Officer Barry Tanner told reporters that the contract was awarded after a competitive evaluation process.

Dell shares rose in the days after Trump promoted the brand’s laptops last week.

Dell’s personal wealth is also increasing. He is now the sixth richest person in the world with a net worth of $223 billion, adding $83.5 billion in 2026 alone, and behind only Elon Musk in wealth gains so far this year.

To be sure, Musk’s own wealth boom shows that billionaires’ net worth is hardly tied in the long term to how well they get along with the president.

After criticizing Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” Musk lost approximately $34 billion in a single day and Tesla shares fell 14%. A year later, it is worth almost $900 billion.

Dell owns about a 40% stake in his company, which has enjoyed a banner year driven by its artificial intelligence offerings.

In May, the company reported its strongest quarterly earnings since returning to the public markets in 2018, with revenue of $43.8 billion.

Crucial to the company’s growth has been its positioning as a key provider of AI infrastructure. Revenue for Dell’s Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG), which sells GPUs, memory, networking, cooling, storage and services, increased 181% year over year in its first-quarter earnings report.

The company has also been reviewing its internal operations as it seeks to position itself for its next era, modernizing all systems and programs used throughout the company and reducing its workforce by 36,000 in the last three years through layoffs and attrition. As of January, Dell employed approximately 97,000 people, according to its latest 10-K filing.

Where business meets politics

No matter what kind of approach executives take toward Trump, there are no guarantees of a strong relationship with the president.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, for example, has tempered criticism of Trump’s policies with praise over the years, but Trump still sued him and the bank for $5 billion in January, alleging that JPMorgan closed its accounts for political reasons after the Jan. 6 attack. The bank said the lawsuit is baseless.

Companies often combine their market strategy with non-market initiatives, such as lobbying governments, donating to charities or working with NGOs, Schuler said. Some research suggests that companies that take this broader approach achieve better financial results, but it is much more difficult to prove that corporate political activity itself leads to stronger financial results for companies or their executives, he said.

“Is it possible that they benefited personally or for the company itself? Certainly,” said Rice University’s Schuler. “Is it easy to show? No.”

Whether it’s genuinely aligned interests, political pragmatism, or a more calculated bid to gain influence, the president is on the Dells’ side.

“They’re really incredible people,” Trump said last week, with the Dells at his side at the launch of Trump Accounts. “We’re going to get that money back one way or another.”