David Rubenstein on Private Equity, Public Art, and Philanthropy

Conversations with Tyler

Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 November 2021

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded September 30th, 2021

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Conversations with Tyler is produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University,
0:08.4	bridging the gap between academic ideas and real-world problems.
0:12.5	Learn more at mercatis.org.
0:15.2	And for more conversations, including videos, transcripts, and upcoming dates, visit
0:20.4	ConversationsWithT Tyler.com.
0:26.3	Hello everyone and welcome back to Conversations with Tyler.
0:29.5	I'm here today with David M. Rubenstein.
0:31.7	David has a new book out, The American Experiment, Dialogues on a Dream, but David, of course,
0:37.1	has done so much more.
0:38.7	He is a founding figure in private equity, and he is co-chairman and co-founder of the
0:43.4	Carlyle Group.
0:44.6	But also in philanthropy, David's ventures are almost too numerous to mention.
0:49.3	He is chairman of the Kennedy Center, has been chairman of the Smithsonian, has contributed
0:54.1	to the renovation of the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the breeding of pandas
0:59.1	he purchased a copy of the Magna Carta for $21.3 million, then lent out to the United
1:04.3	States government.
1:05.3	It's from Baltimore, and that is, but the beginning, David, has done much more, but let's
1:10.0	start talking.
1:11.3	Thank you for inviting me.
1:12.3	Pleasure to be here.
1:13.3	Now, in private equity, for those who do it well, the returns that accrue, they're being
1:18.0	paid to what scares factor.
	...

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