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In sector after sector, the extractive PE playbook is the same: Buy up assets, load them with debt, strip them of assets, squeeze workers, customers, and patients, and sell them off after a few years. Learn more about how this destructive business model is hurting people, and how we’re fighting back!

Explore the growing body of evidence, including personal stories, analysis from economists, and academic research that show the depth and depravity of private equity greed.

AllClimate/EnvironmentHealthcareHousingJobs/RetailRacial Injustice/EqualityWealth/income Inequality

Private equity firms have boosted their investments in energy, with over $1 trillion invested in the sector since 2010. The lion’s share of these energy investments have been in conventional forms like oil, gas, and coal – and in many cases, dirty assets that public companies have offloaded.

PE-owned healthcare companies are not only terrible for healthcare workers, they are also dangerous for patients and community health. PE-owned healthcare companies have been linked with the closure of safety net hospitals, extortionary surprise billing, and higher death rates in nursing homes.

Private equity-owned housing companies are some of the worst landlords in the country, driving up rents and fees while skimping on maintenance and being unresponsive to tenant complaints. They also drive up the cost of buying a home by snatching up large numbers of houses with all cash offers, othen pushing out potential first time homebuyers.

PE-owned companies are terrible employers. They squeeze worker pay and benefits, slash jobs, and even drive retail stores into bankruptcy. In fact, more than half (55.4 percent) of retail bankruptcies between 2015 and 2020 were at private equity chains.

Private equity firms contribute to income and wealth inequality and exacerbate the racial wealth gap. Private equity executives are overwhelmingly white and male, even by Wall Street standards. And the workers and communities they exploit are often largely Black, Indigenous, and other people of color.

Private equity firms contribute to income and wealth inequality and exacerbate the racial wealth gap. Private equity executives are overwhelmingly white and male, even by Wall Street standards. And the workers and communities they exploit are often largely Black, Indigenous, and other people of color.

FACT SHEET: Private Equity-Owned Payday Lenders Profit Off Trapping People in Debt
Private equity has pushed into the high-priced consumer loan industry, offering payday and other consumer loans that profit off trapping borrowers in a cycle of debt. Private equity firms own over 5,000 storefront payday and online lenders that often make loans at 300% annual percentage rates (APR) and higher.View Link about FACT SHEET: Private Equity-Owned Payday Lenders Profit Off Trapping People in Debt
BLOG POST: Private Equity Profiteering from Incarceration, Tools of Police Brutality
A less known, but insidious form of systemic racism is the business model practiced by Wall Street private equity (PE) firms. PE firms often profit from extracting wealth from communities of color and exacerbating racial inequalities. PE cash has been funneled into odious businesses like payday lenders and corporate landlords that particularly target Black and Latinx communities.View Link about BLOG POST: Private Equity Profiteering from Incarceration, Tools of Police Brutality
Say No to Wall Street Looting! Say No to Wall Street Looting! Say No to Wall Street Looting! Say No to Wall Street Looting!

Tell your legislator to support the
Stop Wall Street Looting Act!

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SWSLA would:

  • Make PE execs legally liable for the damage they cause
  • Stop looting that enriches PE executives at the expense of workers, communities, and businesses
  • Close tax loopholes and change rules that encourage predatory financial activities
  • Protect workers if employers go bankrupt
  • Require PE firms to be fair and transparent to investors in disclosing costs and returns