Megan Greenwell, a freelance journalist and former editor of Deadspin, sheds light on the complications of private equity in today's economy. She discusses how private equity acquisitions have hollowed out vital services, particularly in media and healthcare, leaving consumers facing deteriorating experiences. With insights from her book, 'Bad Company,' Megan reveals how companies like Toys R Us have been driven to ruin by debt-laden strategies and explores the chilling impact on industries like dental and veterinary care — fueling a necessary call for community-focused solutions.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Deadspin's Private Equity Downfall
Megan Greenwell experienced firsthand how private equity ownership destroyed Deadspin by prioritizing profit extraction over the site's success.
The private equity firm demanded harmful editorial changes that tanked the business despite the team's pushback.
insights INSIGHT
Private Equity's Conflict of Interest
Private equity firms see companies as financial instruments to extract cash, not to grow sustainably.
Selling off assets and charging rent to their portfolio companies creates a conflict where private equity profits while companies suffer.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Private Equity Rolls Up Small Practices
Private equity loves buying up small veterinary or dental practices to consolidate them into larger chains.
This contradicts the narrative of supporting small businesses, as it leads to roll-ups that prioritize profit.
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Chances are high that you’ve heard about the way that “private equity” has acquired, hollowed out, and bankrupted some service, product, or company you depend on. For years, I understood the work of private equity only in the vaguest terms — that it was bad, and that it f*cked stuff up. I had to learn a lot more when I was writing Can’t Even, because private equity acquisitions are one of many reasons work has become a burnout factory for so many. But I didn’t fully understand the breadth and the depth of private equity’s impact on our current economy until reading Megan Greenwell’s Bad Company — which she started writing after resigning from her position of editor-in-chief of Deadspin after private equity acquired the site and began excavating and eliminating the very core of what it made it work.
In today’s episode, Megan joins me to answer your questions about how private equity actually works, how it affects industries, what companies it’s historically targeted and who it’s targeting now (hello, dental and vet care!) This episode will make you feel like you understand a structuring reality of our culture better — and will also help you understand why so many experiences and services just feel shittier. It’s a hellscape of an episode but a deeply enlightening one!
Megan’s now-canonical piece on “The Adults in the Room,” published on Deadspin after Megan tendered her resignation, discussing what private equity had done to the site
We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:
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Sabrina Carpenter????
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For this week’s discussion: What did this discussion illuminate re: private equity? And what service/product/store has it decimated (in your life?)
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