What's the Future of Private Equity?

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Private equity didn't grow to this large size because of the charm and good looks of the founders, as you obviously can see. They grew to this large level because we've out performed, as a whole, every other asse class over the last ten, 15, 20, n 25 years. Buy anywhere from 300 to 500 basis points on average. The top cortal funds out performed by a larger amount. If private equity doesn't oult perform, then probably private equity won't survive. And most business people's original business plan bears no relationship to what they actually became.

Baltimore native David Rubenstein is a founding figure in private equity, a prolific philanthropist, and author. From leveraged buyouts to his patriotic philanthropy to his leadership roles within institutions like the Smithsonian, Kennedy Center, and the National Gallery of Art, David has spent much of his life evaluating what makes institutions—and people—succeed.

He joined Tyler to discuss what makes someone good at private equity, why 20 percent performance fees have withstood the test of time, why he passed on a young Mark Zuckerberg, why SPACs probably won’t transform the IPO process, gambling on cryptocurrency, whether the Brooklyn Nets are overrated, what Wall Street and Washington get wrong about each other, why he wasn’t a good lawyer, why the rise of China is the greatest threat to American prosperity, how he would invest in Baltimore, his advice to aging philanthropists, the four standards he uses to evaluate requests for money, why we still need art museums, the unusual habit he and Tyler share, why even now he wants more money, why he’s not worried about an imbalance of ideologies on college campuses, how he prepares to interview someone, what appealed to him about owning the Magna Carta, the change he’d make to the US Constitution, why you shouldn’t obsess about finding a mentor, and more.

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Recorded September 30th, 2021 Other ways to connect

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