The print archive of Magnum Photos — the renowned international photography cooperative started in 1947 by Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and others — has a new owner: the billionaire computer entrepreneur Michael Dell.

Dell’s investment firm, MSD Capital, announced it has acquired the 185,000 prints in the institution’s archive, which includes the works of 103 photographers and stretches from the 1930s to 1998. Though a price was not disclosed, the collection of photographs had been insured for a value of $100 million.

This is not the first time that MSD Capital and its members have gotten involved in the art market. Bloomberg notes that its co-managing partners Glenn R. Fuhrman and John C. Phelan both collect contemporary art. Fuhrman also founded New York’s Flag Foundation (which will show an exhibition curated by Shaquille O’Neal from Feb. 19 to May 27, 2010).

The Magnum Photo archive includes iconic images from the Spanish Civil War, World War II, and the Civil Rights movement, as well as celebrity portraits that helped define the look of postwar American consumer culture. Portraits of actor James Dean taken by Magnum photographer Dennis Stock, who recently died at the age of 81, shaped his brooding image in the months before his death.

MSD Capital also announced that the photographs will be lent for the next five years to the Harry Ransom Center, a library and museum based at the University of Texas at Austin.