When you're talking about private equity firms having their companies exit through an IPO,

I can't talk about any specific company, but one of the challenges that you've got is

they've been taking a very short-term perspective and potentially selling off the company's assets.

The company that emerges through private equity ownership, it's not always this case,

this way, but sometimes.

The company that emerges from private equity ownership may just not be as strong or as

valuable a company as it was when it entered.

I'm Chris Hill and that's Brendan Ballou, special counsel in the anti-trust division at the

Department of Justice and author of the new book Plunder, Private Equity's plan to pillage America.

Ricky Mulvey caught up with Ballou to talk about the lesser-known ways that private equity can

impact your life, their methods for generating short-term returns, and how a profitable toys are

for us managed to go bankrupt.

Brendan, this is the first time I've voluntarily spoken with a federal prosecutor.

I appreciate you joining me for this journey.

Thank you so much for the time.

I also understand that you've got to say something before we dive into the questions.

Yeah, as I say in all these interviews, you know, I'm speaking personally and what I say doesn't

necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice.

Let's dive in. So there are a lot of ways to raise capital. You've got public markets,

you've got bonds. Why pick on private equity? Why go after them?

Sure. Well, it's a great question. And maybe you've got a very educated audience and

financially literate one, but it might be helpful to just set a baseline for what private equity is.

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