Private Equity In The 2020S

In the 2020s private equity (PE) firms responded to the COVID-19 recession with a surge in funding.[1] 

The World Economic Forum suggested private equity would fund the post-recession revival of the economy, with patient capital.^[2] However, by 2021, statistics show that private equity had increased its management of U.S. corporate equity from about four percent, in 2000, to about 20 percent, showing growth at almost five times the U.S. economy. The trend is also noted in the sharp decline of public companies, over the past three decades, as thousands transitioned to private with increased investor equity. Law professors, including Elisabeth de Fontenay of Duke University, and John Coates of Harvard Law, caution that the trend greatly diminishes corporate transparency and accountability.^[3]

The States of California, Colorado and Illinois each proposed legislation to limit private equity investor influence on law firms in 2026.^[4] Colorado passed HB26-1421 on May 12,^[5] and Illinois voted for an amended version of its House Bill 5487.^[6] California Assembly Bill 2305 passed its House on April 6.^[4]

By 2024, PE investments into Healthcare facilities boomed, with $100 billion invested in thousands of acquisitions annually.^[7]

Following Enron's exploitation of accounting rules of 25 years earlier; several high-value, American hi-tech companies, including Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft, created similar financing vehicles, as variable interest entities (VIEs), to more favorably repackage debt-loads, as they compete to build data centers to deliver AI power to computing, for which Morgan Stanley predicts that the industry will have invested $3 trillion through 2028.^[8]

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| name = Private equity and venture capital

| state = autocollapse | title = [[Finance:Private equitPrivate equity and venture capital

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| bodyclass = hlist

| group1 = Basic investment types | list1 =

• Buyout
• Venture
• Mezzanine
• Growth
• Secondaries
• Equity co-investment

| group2 = History | list2 =

• History of private equity and venture capital
• Early history of private equity
• Private equity in the 1980s
• Private equity in the 1990s
• Private equity in the 2000s

| group3 = Terms and concepts

| list3 =

Buyout	Financial sponsor Management buyout Divisional buyout Buy–sell agreement Leveraged recapitalization Dividend recapitalization
Venture	Angel investor Business incubator Post-money valuation Pre-money valuation Seed money Startup company Venture capital financing Venture debt Venture round
Structure	Private equity firms and funds Limited partnership Limited liability company Carried interest Management fee Publicly traded private equity Business Development Company Venture capital trust Private investment in public equity (PIPE) Pledge fund