Saturday, January 14, 2012

SNL vs. WaPo on Private Equity


Saturday Night Live kicked off with a skit spoofing Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's love for firing people as a former private equity maven.

Donald Graham's Washington Post ran a fluffier piece Saturday night.  It could've come from the Private Equity Growth Capital Council (PEGCC). My guess is Thomas Heath and University of Chicago business professor Steve Kaplan made Carlyle co-founder David Rubenstein very happy.

There was no mention how PEU's bleed companies via special dividends, often returning all their upfront equity investment pre-IPO, or pension dumping which happened when Carlyle took over RAC and Brintons.  American Airlines' employees could face a similar fate should a PEU become their "sponsor.".



America had a choice Saturday night regarding private equity, funny vs. fluffy.
In five minutes the SNL skit informed more Americans than my five years of blogging.at PEU Report.  (PEU stands for private equity underwriter, my pet name for the greed and leverage boys.)  While SNL's spoof had span, PEU Report offers research based depth.  Feel free to mine it. It's a window into purchased politicians and their PEU sponsors.