Megan Greenwell, a journalist and author of 'Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream', delves into the troubling world of private equity. She discusses her experiences at Deadspin and the destructive corporate takeover that altered its mission. The conversation highlights the pervasive impact of private equity on industries like healthcare and retail, revealing how profit-driven motives can devastate communities and services. Greenwell also sheds light on grassroots movements challenging private equity's dominance and calls for accountability.
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Deadspin's Private Equity Takeover
Megan Greenwell experienced firsthand how private equity took over Deadspin and tried to micromanage editorial content.
The private equity firm forced changes that disconnected Deadspin from its original identity, leading to its decline.
insights INSIGHT
Financialization Over Product Success
Private equity profits by making money from financial maneuvers rather than company success.
The rise of KKR in the 80s exemplified leveraging debt and hostile takeovers to extract value.
insights INSIGHT
80s Culture Shaped Private Equity
The 1980s New York real estate and corporate raider culture influenced private equity's ruthless financial approach.
This ethos also shaped Donald Trump's transactional worldview and dominance of American finance.
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This book, written by Paul Starr, provides a comprehensive history of the U.S. healthcare system. It details the efforts of the American Medical Association to improve academic training for physicians, establish standards for professional malpractice, and enhance the professional status of physicians. The book also explores the ideological and societal changes that have shaped American medicine, offering insights into medical sociology and its significance in modern life. A second edition with a new epilogue was published in 2017.
Barbarians at the gate
The Fall of RJR Nabisco
Bryan Burrough
Barbarians at the Gate is a detailed and engaging narrative about the takeover of RJR Nabisco in 1988. Written by investigative journalists Bryan Burrough and John Helyar, the book provides an unprecedented look at the financial operations and social history of the time. It centers around F. Ross Johnson's plan to buy out RJR Nabisco, which led to a bidding war involving prominent figures like Henry Kravis and Ted Forstmann. The book includes a new afterword that updates the story twenty years after the deal, tracing the subsequent success and failure of those involved and the impact of the story on the world.
Bad company
Liza Cody
Plunder
Menachem Kaiser
Today, I’m talking with journalist Megan Greenwell about her new book Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream. It comes out June 10th. It's fantastic and maddening in equal measure. I highly recommend it.
In this episode, we discussed the genesis of Megan’s interest in the subject and its genesis in media — including her time as editor-in-chief of the website Deadspin, which underwent a very public PE takeover of its parent company. We also talk a lot about the healthcare industry, another major pillar of Megan’s book. I'm excited to hear what you think of this one.
Decoder with Nilay Patel 
