No firms have stepped forward publicly to express interest. But Blackstone Group, one of the largest private-equity firms, is an obvious candidate. Last week, David Johnson, senior vice president for strategy at Dell, took a new post with Blackstone. And any deal is likely to be friendly and would include corporate founder Michael Dell. According to the most recent proxy filing, he owns about 14 percent of the company's common shares. Private-equity veterans suggest that firms like Silver Lake Partners and TPG, which have long had a focus on technology firms, might also be interested.