Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Private equity is buying everything from vet offices to tech conglomerates

theverge.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 362 posts

Re: Private equity is buying everything from vet offices to tech conglomerates

#221

Post by dopylitty »

wmaiouiru wrote: post #114

I am curious if there is a database of all the companies that are being run by a PE firm to bring transparency around the track record of PE firms.

This is a good question! I briefly thought of the same thing after the dentist’s office I’d been using for more than a decade began having utterly terrible service. By accident (an employee sent me an email from their corporate email) I found out they had been taken over by a PE owned dental outsourcing company.

That explained why overnight their office staff became a rotating assortment of people who had no idea how to run insurance or handle any problems and the visits lost all quality.

I would love to have a resource where I could see what entity actually owns a business or company. Not many people realize that even brands like Volvo and Arc'teryx that used to mean something are now owned by companies that if anything are known for the exact opposite qualities.

Re: Private equity is buying everything from vet offices to tech conglomerates

#222

Post by killdozer »

mbesto wrote: post #88
eli wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PE acquired us and was a great partner. Allowed us to do larger M&A deals than we otherwise could have. Supportive but mostly stayed out of the way. Never suggested any cuts or anything that would impact culture. Ultimately led to us being acquired by a strategic a few years later in what I think was a good outcome for everyone. These are all just anecdotes. My experience doesn't override yours, but I'd be careful dr…

My firm supports 100's of PE acquisitions every year and I can tell you that your experience is far more the norm than what the parent comment has suggested.

"My work helps people, don't listen to the ocean of negative examples about my industry."

Re: Private equity is buying everything from vet offices to tech conglomerates

#223

Post by waboremo »

slimsag wrote: post #178
TylerE wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better than doing the same work with heavier patients in nursing homes for $12/hr.

The level of mental trauma endured by vets I doubt is matched by elderly care nurses.

I would say they are definitely in the same range that any difference is negligible.

Working in either shatters the soul in record breaking speed. The terrible things you have to witness. Humanity at its rawest and at times lowest. Both groups, no matter how many times you have to deal with the certain situations they do, you never get used to it (which is kind of important, as soon as you do get used to it, you've lost what makes you such a good nurse/vet - empathy).

Re: Private equity is buying everything from vet offices to tech conglomerates

#224

Post by WalterBright »

singleshot_ wrote: post #184
epups wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn't your friend just open up a practice and compete with this dysfunctional company?

Maybe because now that the retail vet is destroyed and rich people need vets who are not pathologically inconvenient and terrible, there is a brisk market for retained private vets. This is a trend I’ve noticed that goes along with “enshittification” wherein the normal thing (let’s take grocery stores as an example) become either so downmarket-oriented (e.g., Dollar General) or aggravating (e.g., self-checkout lanes,…

[flagged]

Re: Private equity is buying everything from vet offices to tech conglomerates

#225

Post by WalterBright »

failuser wrote: post #187
epups wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn't your friend just open up a practice and compete with this dysfunctional company?

This is not a stupid question. I would only guess that start up capital is not available and the market is not big enough for another practice. And all that before considering licensing. Most professions have a gulf between the wealth of business owners and workers. You can’t start a business working hand to mouth.

How to start a business without any money:

https://www.amazon.com/How-start-business-statistical-bankru...

Re: Private equity is buying everything from vet offices to tech conglomerates

#226

Post by taeric »

atourgates wrote: post #204
taeric wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they meant more that you don't get some magic pass for years of service, kind of thing. If you have built up a paying customer base, odds are high that you can leverage that to another owner, no? No need for PE to get involved. Unless you are trying to maximize every penny you can get on that sale alone.

It’s more complicated than that. TL;DR: To a larger degree than most businesses, the physician is the value in a medical practice. Let’s say you’re a dermatologist in Lincoln, Nebraska. You want to live there because of family reasons or whatever. You build a great thriving practice. You’re clearing $1m in profit annually. (A high, but doable number for a dermatologist with a good private practice) Now it’s time to r…

This is painting physicians as more unique than they are. Carpenters, artists in general, electricians, plumbers, etc. are all in roughly the same boat. A lot of trust built into a reputation that someone built.

Now, sure, the modern world doesn't built up on reputations as much. But the general idea is the same. Such that, yeah, you may find you have nothing that you can sell without you in it, if that is what you built. I'm not clear how PE somehow changes this. They are literally preying on customers/clients that are not savvy enough to know that what they actually valued left?

Re: Private equity is buying everything from vet offices to tech conglomerates

#227

Post by eli »

jfidbfidvdid wrote: post #189
eli wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PE acquired us and was a great partner. Allowed us to do larger M&A deals than we otherwise could have. Supportive but mostly stayed out of the way. Never suggested any cuts or anything that would impact culture. Ultimately led to us being acquired by a strategic a few years later in what I think was a good outcome for everyone. These are all just anecdotes. My experience doesn't override yours, but I'd be careful dr…

do you tell this often? i could swear I've read this exact comment before (pe acquired, great partner, enabled m&a, ultimately acquired by a strategic)

My memory is far from perfect, but I don't think that was me.

It's pretty much exactly how a growth-focused PE is supposed to work so one would hope it has actually happened that way at least a few times.

Re: Private equity is buying everything from vet offices to tech conglomerates

#228

Post by carimura »

hattmall wrote: post #212
JohnFen wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Prestige is a powerful motivator. I know this to be true because I've seen so many people given BS titles instead of raises and be happy about it as if they got something of real value. But I don't understand it at all. Apparently, I lack the "prestige" gene.

It's not really prestige, so much as it is the perception of security. Many people are driven by fear and thus motivated by security. You can uncover this exceptionally well with enneagram personality tests. A nice new title would give a person that values it the belief that they are less expendable.

that and stack ranking. "dominant male" is hardwired.

Re: Private equity is buying everything from vet offices to tech conglomerates

#229

Post by WalterBright »

icelancer wrote: post #108
mbesto wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My firm supports 100's of PE acquisitions every year and I can tell you that your experience is far more the norm than what the parent comment has suggested.

The idea that PE comes in and sets eight figures of their own money on fire and ruins a business, shooting themselves in the foot makes no sense, yet every other story online is about them doing exactly that. Of course there are LBO scams going on (more historically rather than currently) but these billion dollar firms don't come in and lose a ton of their own money along with money of their outside investors on a re…

What's also funny is the general certainty that the CEOs of Microsoft, Google, Apple, and every other large company are eager to destroy the company for short term profits.

Re: Private equity is buying everything from vet offices to tech conglomerates

#230

Post by WalterBright »

Jeslijar wrote: post #127
icelancer wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea that PE comes in and sets eight figures of their own money on fire and ruins a business, shooting themselves in the foot makes no sense, yet every other story online is about them doing exactly that. Of course there are LBO scams going on (more historically rather than currently) but these billion dollar firms don't come in and lose a ton of their own money along with money of their outside investors on a re…

They come in, reduce costs as much as possible, keep revenue coming in as long as they can while having huge dividends to said PE until they get so far into debt they are not sustainable. They'll swap to service providers that they either own or get a cut from and pay themselves. Then their purchased company gets bankrupted, sells their assets to cover their debts (including said PE's 'debts' of services provided.) T…

> zero liability with a LLC right?

You assume lenders are fools. They aren't. They'll ask for a cosign of an asset holder other than the LLC.

Post reply on HN