What is the buyout industry?
Though exact figures are hard to come by, the hallmark of the corporate buyout industry is the incredible wealth being created for the small number of individuals who drive the buyout business.
The key principals at the largest private equity firms are billionaires. Using money from banks, insurance companies, pension funds, and other wealthy individual investors, they continue to launch corporate buyouts worth billions, even tens of billions of dollars, extracting fees of hundreds of millions of dollars while saddling companies with debt.
For a quick explanation of the legal loopholes that allow buyout firms to profit from this debt, watch this video by Brave New Films:
Unlike publicly traded companies that are subject to more rigorous federal securities laws and regulations as well as to daily scrutiny by financial analysts and the business media, corporate buyout firms operate virtually free of oversight and public accountability, their profits and practices largely hidden from view.
Learn more about the buyout industry at Behind the Buyouts.