Since the early 1980s, private equity investors have heralded and shepherded massive changes in American capitalism. From outsourcing to excessive debt taking, private equity investment helped normalize once-taboo business strategies while growing into an over $3 trillion industry in control of thousands of companies and millions of workers. Daniel Scott Souleles opens a window into the rarefied world of private equity investing through ethnographic fieldwork on private equity financiers. Songs of Profit, Songs of Loss documents how and why investors buy, manage, and sell the companies that they do; presents the ins and outs of private equity deals, management, and valuation; and explains the historical context that gave rise to private equity and other forms of investor-led capitalism. In addition to providing invaluable ethnographic insight, Songs of Profit, Songs of Loss is also an anthropological study of inequality as Souleles connects the core components of financial capitalism to economic disparities. Souleles uses local ideas of “value” and “time” to frame the ways private equity investors comprehend their work and to show how they justify the prosperity and poverty they create. Throughout, Souleles argues that understanding private equity investors as contrasted with others in society writ large is essential to fully understanding private equity within the larger context of capitalism in the United States.

Learn valuable lessons from the newly successful private equity players in China and explore the challenges and opportunities offered in Chinese markets The first book to deal with private equity finance in China, Private Equity in China: Challenges and Opportunities provides much-needed guidance on an investment concept that has so far proved elusive in Asia. Focusing on the opportunities that the Chinese finance market offers to private equity firms, the book shows how these firms can strategically position themselves in order to maximize success in this new marketplace. Private Equity in China includes in-depth case studies illustrating both successful and failed ventures by private equity firms operating in China, outlining the challenges faced by private equity firms in setting up new funds. It contains a collection of valuable experience and insights about acquiring companies and turning them around essential for any firm currently operating in, or considering entering, the Chinese market. Discusses the challenges faced by private equity firms in China including setting up the initial fund, fund raising, deal sourcing, deal execution, and monitoring and exit strategies Provides key insights drawn from keen observations and knowledge of the more mature private equity market in Western countries, analyzing the way forward for the Chinese private equity industry Discusses the role of renminbi-denominated funds in the development of the private equity industry in China Breaking new ground in exploring and explaining the private equity market in China, the book offers incredible new insight into how equity companies can thrive in the Chinese marketplace.

The first book to comprehensively address private equity and health care, Ethically Challenged raises the curtain on an industry notorious for its secrecy, exposing the nefarious side of its maneuvers.

America's community newspapers have entered an age of disruption. Towns and cities continue to need the journalism and advertising so essential to nurturing local identity and connection among citizens. But as the business of newspaper publishing collides with the digital revolution, and as technology redefines consumer habits and the very notion of community, how can newspapers survive and thrive? In Saving Community Journalism, veteran media executive Penelope Muse Abernathy draws on cutting-edge research and analysis to reveal pathways to transformation and long-term profitability. Offering practical guidance for editors and publishers, Abernathy shows how newspapers can build community online and identify new opportunities to generate revenue. Examining experiences at a wide variety of community papers--from a 7,000-circulation weekly in West Virginia to a 50,000-circulation daily in California and a 150,000-circulation Spanish-language weekly in the heart of Chicago--Saving Community Journalism is designed to help journalists and media-industry managers create and implement new strategies that will allow them to prosper in the twenty-first century. Abernathy's findings will interest everyone with a stake in the health and survival of local media.

Private equity firms have long been at the center of public debates on the impact of the financial sector on Main Street companies. Are these firms financial innovators that save failing businesses or financial predators that bankrupt otherwise healthy companies and destroy jobs? The first comprehensive examination of this topic, Private Equity at Work provides a detailed yet accessible guide to this controversial business model. Economist Eileen Appelbaum and Professor Rosemary Batt carefully evaluate the evidence—including original case studies and interviews, legal documents, bankruptcy proceedings, media coverage, and existing academic scholarship—to demonstrate the effects of private equity on American businesses and workers. They document that while private equity firms have had positive effects on the operations and growth of small and mid-sized companies and in turning around failing companies, the interventions of private equity more often than not lead to significant negative consequences for many businesses and workers. Prior research on private equity has focused almost exclusively on the financial performance of private equity funds and the returns to their investors. Private Equity at Work provides a new roadmap to the largely hidden internal operations of these firms, showing how their business strategies disproportionately benefit the partners in private equity firms at the expense of other stakeholders and taxpayers. In the 1980s, leveraged buyouts by private equity firms saw high returns and were widely considered the solution to corporate wastefulness and mismanagement. And since 2000, nearly 11,500 companies—representing almost 8 million employees—have been purchased by private equity firms. As their role in the economy has increased, they have come under fire from labor unions and community advocates who argue that the proliferation of leveraged buyouts destroys jobs, causes wages to stagnate, saddles otherwise healthy companies with debt, and leads to subsidies from taxpayers. Appelbaum and Batt show that private equity firms’ financial strategies are designed to extract maximum value from the companies they buy and sell, often to the detriment of those companies and their employees and suppliers. Their risky decisions include buying companies and extracting dividends by loading them with high levels of debt and selling assets. These actions often lead to financial distress and a disproportionate focus on cost-cutting, outsourcing, and wage and benefit losses for workers, especially if they are unionized. Because the law views private equity firms as investors rather than employers, private equity owners are not held accountable for their actions in ways that public corporations are. And their actions are not transparent because private equity owned companies are not regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Thus, any debts or costs of bankruptcy incurred fall on businesses owned by private equity and their workers, not the private equity firms that govern them. For employees this often means loss of jobs, health and pension benefits, and retirement income. Appelbaum and Batt conclude with a set of policy recommendations intended to curb the negative effects of private equity while preserving its constructive role in the economy. These include policies to improve transparency and accountability, as well as changes that would reduce the excessive use of financial engineering strategies by firms. A groundbreaking analysis of a hotly contested business model, Private Equity at Work provides an unprecedented analysis of the little-understood inner workings of private equity and of the effects of leveraged buyouts on American companies and workers. This important new work will be a valuable resource for scholars, policymakers, and the informed public alike.

Capitalism is a powerful engine that requires finance. Private equity is part of the neoliberal transformation of capitalism that has failed the average citizen and unleashed a tsunami of leveraged acquisitions that have destroyed entire sectors of our economy. Private equity has become a powerful force that has moved from restructuring industrial firms to buying up just about any economic activity in local communities that has assets that can be monetized, without any consideration of the impact on the quality of life and well-being of the community. Th a process has been aided and abetted by government policy. The authors of this Element explain the workings of the private equity model and the reasons it has been so profitable. They document the effects of PE on firms and communities by examining a range of activities that once had a local focus. They conclude by offering policy recommendations.

Innovation... personal fulfillment... and limitless potential to help people-and prosper. These are the rewards for physicians who become entrepreneurs and blaze their own trails in business to provide medical products and services-all while creating a balanced personal life that's fulfilling and adventurous. Unfortunately, many physicians and medical professionals believe that they're not good business people. And they're afraid to step out of the traditional comfort zones of working in hospitals and other institutional settings-where bureaucracies can limit creativity, prosperity, and impact. Now Dr. Francisco Arredondo, MD, MPH, is on a mission to show medical professionals how to excel above and beyond traditional constraints-by becoming entrepreneurs. In MedikalPreneur: The Official Guidebook for Physicians' Success in Business, Dr. Arredondo shares his experience and expertise to guide health care professionals into the unlimited and fulfilling possibilities in business. He did it very successfully, and now he wants to teach YOU how to become a successful medical entrepreneur. Written in easy-to-understand language, this book showcases Dr. Arredondo's story while providing solid nuts-and-bolts information about business plans, accounting, marketing, teamwork, human resources, designing a transformative patient experience, and more. Dr. Arredondo coined the term "MedikalPreneur" to describe physicians like himself who master the art of entrepreneurship in ways that transform the lives of countless patients with innovative products and services. He is a true MedikalPreneur, having built a fertility center that expanded into a network of entrepreneurial ventures with more than 80 team members. Dr. Arredondo emphasizes that MedikalPreneurs can enjoy financial success and freedom for family time, world travel, and philanthropy. As the medical profession undergoes major shifts resulting from the coronavirus pandemic and other factors, MedikalPreneur: The Official Guidebook for Physicians' Success in Business by Dr. Francisco Arredondo highlights a path toward exciting new opportunities for health care professionals to shift their mindsets and embark on missions to help people and achieve success.

Is Wall Street bad for Main Street America? "A well-told exploration of why our current economy is leaving too many behind." —The New York Times In looking at the forces that shaped the 2016 presidential election, one thing is clear: much of the population believes that our economic system is rigged to enrich the privileged elites at the expense of hard-working Americans. This is a belief held equally on both sides of political spectrum, and it seems only to be gaining momentum. A key reason, says Financial Times columnist Rana Foroohar, is the fact that Wall Street is no longer supporting Main Street businesses that create the jobs for the middle and working class. She draws on in-depth reporting and interviews at the highest rungs of business and government to show how the “financialization of America”—the phenomenon by which finance and its way of thinking have come to dominate every corner of business—is threatening the American Dream. Now updated with new material explaining how our corrupted financial sys­tem propelled Donald Trump to power, Makers and Takers explores the confluence of forces that has led American businesses to favor balance-sheet engineering over the actual kind, greed over growth, and short-term profits over putting people to work. From the cozy relationship between Wall Street and Washington, to a tax code designed to benefit wealthy individuals and corporations, to forty years of bad policy decisions, she shows why so many Americans have lost trust in the sys­tem, and why it matters urgently to us all. Through colorful stories of both “Takers,” those stifling job creation while lining their own pockets, and “Makers,” businesses serving the real economy, Foroohar shows how we can reverse these trends for a better path forward.

A veteran New York Times reporter dissects the most spectacular failure in real estate history Real estate giant Tishman Speyer and its partner, BlackRock, lost billions of dollars when their much-vaunted purchase of Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village in New York City failed to deliver the expected profits. But how did Tishman Speyer walk away from the deal unscathed, while others took the financial hit—and MetLife scored a $3 billion profit? Illuminating the world of big real estate the way Too Big to Fail did for banks, Other People’s Money is a riveting account of politics, high finance, and the hubris that ultimately led to the nationwide real estate meltdown.

Fully revised and updated to reflect changes in the private equity sector Building on and refining the content of previous editions, Introduction to Private Equity, Debt and Real Assets, Third Edition adopts the same logical, systematic, factual and long-term perspective on private markets (private equity, private debt and private real assets) combining academic rigour with extensive practical experience. The content has been fully revised to reflect developments and innovations in private markets, exploring new strategies, changes in structuring and the drive of new regulations. New sections have been added, covering fund raising and fund analysis, portfolio construction and risk measurement, as well as liquidity and start-up analysis. In addition, private debt and private real assets are given greater focus, with two new chapters analysing the current state of these evolving sectors. • Reflects the dramatic changes that have affected the private market industry, which is evolving rapidly, internationalizing and maturing fast • Provides a clear, synthetic and critical perspective of the industry from a professional who has worked at many levels within the industry • Approaches the private markets sector top-down, to provide a sense of its evolution and how the current situation has been built • Details the interrelations between investors, funds, fund managers and entrepreneurs This book provides a balanced perspective on the corporate governance challenges affecting the industry and draws perspectives on the evolution of the sector.