It's unclear to me how much is private equity "ruining" the business and how much is making it visible. Here in Portland a private equity firm bought a bunch of local restaurants and mini chains during the pandemic. Now they struggle paying workers and rent and are closing a lot of these businesses. My suspicion is that they bought these businesses when they were distressed and otherwise wouldn't have survived at all. Now the pandemic recovery here has been famously bad and these businesses aren't recovering. I suspect the play here was to buy for cheap, help them through the pandemic and have a bunch of guys businesses. Honestly everyone would IMO have been a winner. Employees, customers, investors and even the founders who lost their business but at least got done money for it and see it continue. I don't think we can blame this particular private equity firm in this situation. As a customer the transition was not noticeable.
How many private equity acquisitions are like this but circumstances are less obvious and the measurers to rescue need to be more involved than just waiting for a pandemic to end? I genuinely don't know. But I suspect that it's very easy, looking in from the outside as a customer, to come to the conclusion that the business went bad when private equity came in when the business was already struggling but prior leadership was avoiding dramatic changes.
How many private equity acquisitions are like this but circumstances are less obvious and the measurers to rescue need to be more involved than just waiting for a pandemic to end? I genuinely don't know. But I suspect that it's very easy, looking in from the outside as a customer, to come to the conclusion that the business went bad when private equity came in when the business was already struggling but prior leadership was avoiding dramatic changes.