Saw this circulated around by PariPassu Newsletter today. 19‘000 US PE firms vs 14‘000 McDonald Locations in the US. Wild. Up 5x from 3‘800 firms in 2018.
What do we make of this? Too competitive? New golden age? Better found a software company and sell into PEs?
In EU it seems less extreme but with the same fundamental trend.
| +106 | Is Everyone Too Bearish on PE? | 34 | 18h |
| +48 | Why would anyone do PE in long term in 2026? | 13 | 1d |
| +24 | Q&A: What It’s Actually Like Working at an Independent (Fundless) Sponsor | 4 | 3d |
| +22 | Do you think PE has actually helped you become a better entrepreneur? | 8 | 10h |
| +21 | MF Tech PE 2026 | 4 | 1h |
| +21 | UMM PE or High Paying Strat Finance? | 13 | 1d |
| +21 | Striking out in last rounds | 2 | 4d |
| +16 | Portfolio Marks | 8 | 7h |
| +15 | DELETE | 1 | 2d |
| +15 | Overwhelmed by amount of data / granularity | 3 | 2d |
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Think the # is wrong
that figure has gotta be including every idiot MBA running around calling themselves an "independent sponsor" or "search fund". Probably also lumps in the billion "real estate private equity" firms that exist lol
Ahem, are you suggesting that I'm not actually a portfolio manager for a globally diversified hedge fund for which I am both the largest and only LP???
This betrays the dispersion of capital and just how many companies are operating in the space, and the same thing happens in HF too.
It sounds enlightening to outsiders but most finance people understand opportunities often cluster around the funds as opposed to the capital itself. It's not as if everyone has the infrastructure, or desire, to support identical strategies.
Saw that post on LinkedIn. The person who made it is an idiot and the number quoted are not accurate unless you stretch the definition of "PE" to the absolute max. The real # is sub-10k.
Suggests PE is overrated - more people work in PE vs. McDonalds. Makes the PE path instantly less prestigious
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