Hacker News with Generative AI: Private Equity

Defending Open Source: Protecting the Future of WordPress (automattic.com)
In 2018, $100 billion private equity firm Silver Lake entered the WordPress ecosystem. It made a $250m investment in WP Engine, and placed three officers on a four-person Board. Over the next few years, WP Engine acquired hosts, plugins, and themes, and consolidated power. As is typical for private equity owned companies, their goal was profit and ROI, extracting maximum value from the open source community while giving back minimally—a damaging ethos counter to the spirit of open source.

Open Source, WordPress, Private Equity, Business

11 points by program 16 days ago | 0 comments

Permira completes Squarespace acquisition after upping bid to $7.2B (techcrunch.com)
Website builder Squarespace is no longer a publicly traded company, after private equity firm Permira procured all remaining common stock in the firm.

Private Equity, Acquisitions, Companies, Technology, Business

43 points by Brajeshwar 34 days ago | 24 comments

Private Equity Firm Permira Acquires Squarespace for $7.2B (petapixel.com)
Private equity company Permira has purchased all available common stock for the website builder Squarespace, ending Squarespace’s publicly traded era.

Private Equity, Acquisitions, Business, Technology, Web Development

5 points by mikece 34 days ago | 1 comments

How Does the Private Equity Market Work? (ycombinator.com)
I’m trying to better understand the private equity market. How do private equity firms operate, source deals, and structure investments? What are the key mechanisms that drive value creation, and how do they differ from public markets or venture capital? Would love to hear experiences and insights from professionals in the field or those who’ve been part of private equity transactions!

Private Equity, Finance, Investing

7 points by TravisL 42 days ago | 6 comments

Private equity ruins tech companies (zmh.org)
The Wordpress and open source communities have lots of thoughts on Matt Mullenweg’s actions after his talk at WordCamp. Much of this commentary has overlooked what I think is a core concern at the heart of Matt’s argument: the growing role and influence of private equity in tech, particularly in open source.

Private Equity, Open Source, Technology, WordPress

60 points by achariam 45 days ago | 47 comments

The profit-obsessed monster destroying American emergency rooms (vox.com)
Private equity decimated emergency care in the United States — without you even noticing.

Healthcare, Private Equity, Business, Economics

168 points by rntn 47 days ago | 160 comments

Getting price-gouged by private equity in the UK's happiest resort (2023) (netincome.co)

Private Equity, UK, Real Estate, Economics

93 points by jjar 79 days ago | 120 comments

Private Equity Is Coming for Youth Sports (bloomberg.com)

Private Equity, Sports, Business, Finance

7 points by petethomas 84 days ago | 0 comments

After private equity takes over hospitals, they are less adept of providing care (nbcnews.com)

Healthcare, Private Equity, Business, Economics

100 points by speckx 105 days ago | 82 comments

Lessons from a Private Equity Earn Out: How I Lost £550K Due to a Lowercase 'C' (entrepreneur.com)