The Buyout of America: How Private Equity Is Destroying Jobs and Killing the American Economy

by Josh Kosman

Overview

An authoritative exposé of the mysterious and potentially dangerous world of private equity

Few people realize that the top private equity firms, such as Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, have become the nation’s largest employers through the businesses they own. Using leveraged buyouts that load their acquired companies with loans, private equity firms have generated more than $1 trillion in new debt—which will come due just when these businesses are least likely to be able to pay it off.

Journalist Josh Kosman explores private equity’s explosive growth and shows how its barons wring profits at the expense of the long-term health of their companies. He argues that excessive debt and mismanagement will likely trigger another economic meltdown within the next five years, wiping out up to two million jobs.

He also explores the links between the private equity elite and Washington power players, who have helped them escape government scrutiny. The result is a timely book with an important warning for us all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101152386
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/12/2009
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	853,100
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Josh Kosman has been covering the financial industry for twelve years. He is a business reporter at The New York Post, and has previously been an editor at Mergermarket.com, a senior writer for The Deal and senior reporter for the trade publication Buyouts Newsletter. He appears frequently in the media as a private equity and mergers expert. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

Introduction 7

Part 1 The Buyout of America

Chapter 1 How Private Equity Started 19

Chapter 2 The Next Credit Crisis 35

Part 2 The LBO Playbook

Chapter 3 Doctoring Customer Service 55

Chapter 4 Lifting Prices 72

Chapter 5 Starving Capital 87

Chapter 6 Plunder and Profit 105

Chapter 7 Leaving Little to Chance 121

Chapter 8 A Different Approach 138

Part 3 What Now?

Chapter 9 The Next Great European Credit Crisis 155

Chapter 10 What's Next? 172

Chapter 11 Handling the Fallout 183

Epilogue 202

Acknowledgments 205

Appendix: The 1990s LBO Track Record 207

Notes 227

Index 267