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What's Wrong With "The Buyout of America"

In a new book, New York Post reporter Josh Kosman takes aim at the private equity industry, arguing that a wave of portfolio company defaults will trigger the next great credit crisis.

But in trying to make his case, Kosman relies on a series of misstatements, half-truths and selective citations that don't stand up to detailed scrutiny.


What's Wrong with Kosman's Book

Private Equity is heping to secure the pensions of milions of American Retirees.

PE by the Numbers

  • Equity investments by PE firms in 2007: $234 billion
  • PE funds raised in 2008: $341 billion
  • PE transactions in 2008: 1,846
  • Average PE equity contribution in 2007: 32%
  • Largest PE investments by industry in 2008: Finance; Professional Services; Healthcare; Oil and Gas; Computers and Electronics
  • Cumulative net profits returned to investors through 2007: $1.12 trillion
  • Average annual return to investors from top-quartile PE firms 1980-2005: 39%
  • Share of investments in top 100 PE firms from pension funds, endowments, foundations: 70%
  • Number of PE firms in U.S.: 1,040
  • Number of PE firms worldwide: 2,150
  • 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, First Data, Dunkin' Brands 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


New WEF study: Private equity grows industries

A major new World Economic Forum study on private equity concludes that private equity-backed industries grow more rapidly than other industries, whether measured by total production, value added or employment.

“The new WEF study makes a definitive case that private equity is a major driver of economic growth," said Private Equity Council President Douglas Lowenstein. "Coupled with the previous two WEF studies, this report should silence critics who doubt that private equity over time strengthens companies and the economy.”

Read the WEF press release

Download the complete WEF study