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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.

BLOG POST: Unconditional Corporate Bailout Allows Private Equity to Enrich Itself by $10 billion
Today, Wall Street’s private equity pirates are managing to loot the companies they control with a round of bond sales and a lift from the Federal Reserve.View Link about BLOG POST: Unconditional Corporate Bailout Allows Private Equity to Enrich Itself by $10 billion
MEMO: Sun Capital Case Study of Private Equity Looting
Today, private equity controls some 8,000 companies in the United States, more than twice as many companies as are publicly traded on U.S. stock markets.View Link about MEMO: Sun Capital Case Study of Private Equity Looting
BLOG POST: Wall Street Money, Racism and the Politics of Anti-Democracy
The billionaires and millionaires of Wall Street deploy so much money to influence American politics and society that we can easily lose track of how pervasive it is.They spread money around to campaigns, think tanks, and lobbyists. Wealthy executives finance universities, cultural institutions, and hospitals.View Link about BLOG POST: Wall Street Money, Racism and the Politics of Anti-Democracy
FACT SHEET: Close the carried interest loophole that is a tax dodge for super-rich private equity executives
The carried interest tax loophole is an income tax avoidance scheme that allows private equity and hedge fund executives — some of the richest people in the world — to substantially lower the amount they pay in taxes, exacerbating income and wealth inequalities.View Link about FACT SHEET: Close the carried interest loophole that is a tax dodge for super-rich private equity executives
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