37/ private equity shenanigans
does anyone in PE follow the Campsite rule?
Capital seeks return
This is almost as reliable as gravity. There’s a trend in the markets that I can only summarize as Private Equity shenanigans. Capital is doing whatever they can to privatize returns. there are far fewer public companies than 20 years ago (and continue to trend down). Companies with great promise are stying private as long as possible. When they go public, they stumble, which distributes the losses and risk to public markets (and, if it’s really bad, the VC who join in later funding rounds). This is the time-honored tradition of finding a greater fool. Here’s a great long read from the Atlantic about these shenanigans.
Here’s an FT article about private credit flooding emerging markets - emerging markets and the people in them want credit to build their lives, but the pressure to outperform higher interest rates & the veil of private capital spells trouble.
The Campsite rule is “leave it better than you found it.” Good rule for camping. Advice columnist Dan Savage expanded It to relationships (especially when there’s a large age or experience gap between partners), but I think it could / should apply to Private Equity. Is there a PE company out there that embodies the campsite rule? let me know.
Other shiny things
I enjoyed this episode of Broken Record with Mark Mothersbaugh. Especially the anecdote of Sid Vicious trying to start chaos and being roundly ignored.
There’s a new island in Japan after an undersea volcano built up from tremendous depths — undersea volcanoes are super cool and so is this lady, doing interesting work
Speaking of undersea volcanoes, researchers have found plastics within newly formed volcanic rock - confirming that the Anthropocene will indeed be in the geologic record as a layer of plastic trash. via Reddit.