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Private Equity State by State

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What's Wrong With Trumka's Op-Ed

    In a recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka mischaracterizes private equity’s record in creating jobs, strengthening companies and benefiting workers.


    Read the truth about private equity investment
    Private Equity is heping to secure the pensions of milions of American Retirees.

    PE by the Numbers

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    • Equity investments by PE firms from 2001 through Q1 2010: $296 billion
    • PE funds raised in 2009: $246 billion
    • PE transactions in 2009: 925
    • Average PE equity contribution in 2009: 46%
    • Largest PE investments by industry in 2009: Business Services; Consumer Products; Healthcare; Industrial; Information Technology
    • Cumulative net profits returned to investors through 2009: $383 billion
    • Employment at U.S.-based PE-backed portfolio companies: 6 million
    • Share of investments in PE funds from pension funds, endowments, foundations: 66%
    • Offer Value of U.S. PE-backed IPOs from 2001 through Q1 2010: $70.45 billion
    • Value of U.S. PE-backed M&A from 2001 from Q1 2010: $1.38 trillion
    • Number of PE firms in U.S.: 1,824
    • Number of PE firms worldwide: 2,560
    • Sources and more data

    Private Equity investments drive growth, innovation, value at American companies

    Through investments in such companies as Hilton Hotels, Univision, Hertz,SunGard, Burger King and hundreds of others, well-known and lesser-known, private equity partnerships help deliver innovative products and services to consumers, provide employment opportunities and drive economic growth.

    How Private Equity works

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Fact and Fiction

    What's New


    Raising "carried interest" tax could cut PE investment by $7 billion to $27 billion a year

    A new study tracking the correlation between tax rates and private equity investment shows that the pending proposal to more than double the tax rate on “carried interest” profits earned by investment partnerships could reduce private equity investment in the U.S. by $7 billion to $27 billion a year.

    The Private Equity Council study also concludes that the rate increase could reduce the overall value of the nation’s commercial real estate assets and in turn contribute to an increase in commercial mortgage default rates.

    “This data is consistent over two decades and confirms that tax increases reduce private equity investment activity and that the proposed 157 percent tax increase on investment partnerships would have a harmful effect on the economy, the recovery, and job creation,” said PEC President Douglas Lowenstein.

    Download the full tax impact study