Thread

1. NegativeK · 1789944184 · focus · HN ↗

   Can someone steelman private equity, please? I'm honestly looking for the upsides (for non-investors) of when PE moves into an industry like medicine and begins buying up businesses that traditionally aren't already large chains.

   I already hear the downsides frequently from someone whose work is directly affected.

   1. dghlsakjg · 1789952787 · focus · HN ↗

      Private equity just means controlling a company outside of the public stock markets, it is incredibly broad, and covers everything from blackrock buying every vets office in an area, to a plumber buying out another plumber when they want to retire.

      The steelman argument is that private equity is just property rights. If I build a business I get to decide what to do with it.

      What most people are arguing against is a specific kind of PE where an institutional investor will either use aggressive financial engineering to force a profit, even if it kills the business, or when those same investors aggregate market share to the point where it is detrimental to consumers. Sprinkle in a little bit of heartless MBA bullshit, and that is what people specifically don’t like.

      1. holmesworcester · 1789955217 · focus · HN ↗

         A stronger steelman is that it results in resources getting allocated in smarter/healthier ways across society.

         If there's some business that's getting by but the land it's on is more valuable (e.g. for housing) than the business, some investors buy the business, sell the land, make the business account for the land value, wind the business down if it can't, and there are apartments there a few years later.

         1. dghlsakjg · 1789955801 · focus · HN ↗

            Is that not just a subset of this:

            > The steelman argument is that private equity is just property rights. If I build a business I get to decide what to do with it.

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