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Michael Dell bowed to shareholder pressure yesterday in his battle to take the computer maker he founded private, but warned that his raised offer for Dell was the "best and final proposal".

Dell has announced an eleventh-hour delay to a shareholder vote on its founder Michael Dell’s $24.4bn (£16bn) offer to buy the computing giant.

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Activist investor Carl Ichan has teamed with another large shareholder in Dell to put forward an alternative to Michael Dell’s plans to take the struggling computer giant private in a $24.4bn (£16bn) deal.

Michael Dell faces a fresh challenge in his battle for control of PC maker Dell, the firm he founded, after two of its biggest shareholders proposed a rival offer to his buyout bid.

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Private equity giant Blackstone and activist investor Carl Icahn are preparing formal bids for US computer company Dell, according to reports at the weekend.

Wall Street was abuzz with rumours tonight that Blackstone, the private-equity giant, could step in to challenge Michael Dell's plans to take his Dell computer business private in a $24.4bn (£16bn) deal that sparked opposition from a number of independent shareholders.

It took months for Michael Dell to put together the $24bn (£16bn) deal to take Dell, the computer manufacturer he founded, private with support from the private equity firm Silver Lake Partners and Microsoft. But now the buyout is mired in uncertainty after Carl Icahn, the activist investor, joined a number of large shareholders in opposing the deal.

Dell has posted a 31 per cent drop in quarterly profits, with the declines in its consumer business underlining the reasons behind Michael Dell's $24bn (£15.5bn) bid to take the company into private trading.