Private Equity–Backed Firm Bowlero Is Ruining Bowling
Private Equity–Backed Firm Bowlero Is Ruining Bowling
Bowlero, the biggest bowling company in the world, has grown rapidly in recent years. Fueled by private equity groups, the firm’s expansion has ruined the beloved pastime for many while its executives pull in massive profits.
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Is there anything private equity hasn't made objectively worse?
No, Private Equity makes things worse by definition. The incentives of a PE firm are misaligned with building a healthy business that builds consumer trust and treats employees well - if your company is acquired by PE you can expect worse working conditions, tighter deadlines or metrics, worse compensation... and having to deal with much angrier clients.
You know, the funny thing is that nominally, the point of PE is to take a struggling asset, get it back on its feet, and sell it for more than you bought it for. It's flipping for businesses. That honestly doesn't sound bad, it sounds like probably a good thing when you put it like that. IRL, though, it just ends up being vulture capital all the way down.
Yea, I'd saying that a company seeking outside investors or trying to bring on managers or consultants... these aren't inherently bad things - it's just that in practice it's fucking awful.
In our modern capitalist system the flow diagram is basically: team/founder starts a company, company does well and builds a customer base, team/founder cash out, PE/profit targets force under investment in company health, company gets worse, new team/founder outcompetes... though a huge problem at the moment is that having a billion dollar slush fund can really draw out being outcompeted i.e. Uber/literally anything in silicon valley.
Well yeah but also no. I feel like Sam from Wendover went over this quite well recently: https://youtu.be/XK8hpxR_r2Y