IBM vs. Dell, Public vs. Private, who will make the most progress?

IBM is under pressure to improve its financial performance with eight straight quarters of no revenue increase reports the WSJ.

International Business Machines Corp. IBM -3.25% on Wednesday reported its lowest quarterly revenue total in five years, putting more pressure on Chief Executive Virginia Rometty to show progress in her effort to transform the company.

IBM's first-quarter revenue shrank 4% to $22.5 billion, as the company's hardware, software and services business all disappointed. It was also the eighth straight quarter the company failed to show a revenue increase.

Meanwhile Dell is quiet this time of year because it is private.

Dell is now a private company.

On September 12, 2013, Dell stockholders approved the proposal in which Michael Dell, Dell’s Founder, Chairman and CEO, will acquire Dell in partnership with global technology investment firm Silver Lake Partners. The merger transaction closed on October 29, 2013, and the company has commenced the process to delist its common shares from the NASDAQ Stock Market. Per the merger agreement, Dell shareholders are entitled to receive $13.75 in cash, in addition to a special dividend of $0.13 per common share.

As a private company, we are going back to our roots, to the entrepreneurial spirit that made Dell one of the fastest growing, most successful companies in history. We’re unleashing the creativity and confidence that have always been the hallmarks of our culture. We will be able to serve our customers with a single-minded purpose and drive the innovations that will change our world for the better.

Both IBM and Dell are under pressures with hardware sales slipping.  The Cloud going like mad.  Amazon, Google, Microsoft and so many others commoditizing the servers in data centers.

This may go down as the most pressure IBM has felt on its services.