At the same time, some shareholders may also believe that an individual wielding an enormous amount of power in running a company is contradictory to the notion of a publicly run company, King said.

Especially in the wake of Hewlett-Packard CEO and Chairman Mark Hurd's resignation two weeks ago, many shareholders may now be questioning the value of a company's chief executive also serving on the board, King said.

Hurd stepped down following an investigation into claims that he sexually harassed a former contractor to the company. The inquiry, overseen by the board, found that Hurd did not violate HP's sexual harassment policy but that he did violate its standards of business conduct, the company said.

Various media reports citing company sources, however, have said that many HP insiders were unhappy with Hurd's cost-cutting management practices and used the harassment case as an excuse to oust him. HP's board may have been trying to reassert control over the company's operations as it perhaps realized it wasn't in the company's best interests to consolidate power under Hurd, King said.

Meanwhile, it's hard to predict Michael Dell's future, King said. As long as he has the confidence of the board and the majority of large stockholders, he will need to continue executing on his plan to increase company profits by expanding to higher-margin areas such as storage, software and services.