In 2019, when the private equity firm Great Hill Partners bought Deadspin, the beloved sports blog she edited, Megan Greenwell figured it might be a good thing. Great Hill had money and her publication had a path to growth. But Great Hill wasn’t interested in growth. Today, Deadspin is owned by a Maltese digital gambling concern.
Having been broadsided by piratical private equiteers, Greenwell, now the Editor-in-Chief of Wired, decided to figure out what the men and women (but mostly men) of America’s most circumspect industry were up to. The result, Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream, sifts through what trickles down when P.E. takes over businesses. It’s a book about debt – who winds up really paying it off – and what happens when capturing value takes a backseat to creating it.
Upper Middle spoke to Greenwell about what extreme financialization means for workers, America, and dinner party guest lists. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Your book is about an industry hiding in plain sight. How can private equity be everywhere and nowhere?
P.E. likes to fly under the radar. That’s not hard. Most normal workers focus on the name on their paycheck, not their company’s debt load. By the same token, many financially literate people don’t do the legwork to figure out who owns their dentist or daycare. It’s too much to ask. But it does make a difference. The bankruptcy rate of companies owned by private equity is 10x companies under other types of ownership.
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