# Simon & Schuster Bought by Private Equity **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [August 8, 2023, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simon-schuster-bought-by-private-equity/988242 "2023-08-08T11:49:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simon-schuster-bought-by-private-equity/988242/21 "2023-08-08T16:53:01Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Can someone explain why one would buy a company and destroy it? What’s the point? Does it make sense business-wise, or are they just…bad businessmen? Like they’re playing Monopoly, but badly? “Look, I own all these companies!” “But they’re all broke or hemorrhaging cash.” Private Equity firms buy companies and then dump the debt of the sale on the company and proceed to charge it fees which make them money. The company is forced to cut costs, quality and services to pay those costs while the firm makes a fortune and then eventually sells off the husk to another bottom feeder and walks away with their sacks of cash. It has happened over and over and over again in the last 25-30 years. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simon-schuster-bought-by-private-equity/988242/22 "2023-08-08T17:01:20Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Private Equity firms buy companies and then dump the debt of the sale on the company and proceed to charge it fees which make them money. The company is forced to cut costs, quality and services to pay those costs while the firm makes a fortune and then eventually sells off the husk to another bottom feeder and walks away with their sacks of cash. This [scene from Goodfellas](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPtjyqgZAUk) pretty much sums it all up. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simon-schuster-bought-by-private-equity/988242/23 "2023-08-08T18:26:37Z")
As the articles note, this move comes after the Biden Administration blocked a proposed merger with Penguin Random House over anti-trust concerns. Can’t see how this outcome is better. And this quote from the Authors Guild president literally made me laugh out loud: _"[the guild] hopes that KKR as a private equity firm will defer to the editorial leadership at S&S, recognizing that publishing is a unique business model that requires vision and creativity in ways that don’t always justify themselves on P&L sheets.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simon-schuster-bought-by-private-equity/988242/24 "2023-08-08T19:37:02Z")
Funny, I just sent this to my wife last week KKR Definitely has some kind of plan. > **[The Surprisingly Big Business of Library E-books](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/an-app-called-libby-and-the-surprisingly-big-business-of-library-e-books?fbclid=IwAR3ki18uPEyCgSorC3b-wVQDwcF5M7LI6eNPcnKK9nzQ8wIC8F4essT0FJs_aem_AaZQS3cevgbJVxBItaWaYB0hH5APLYnPXTQK4ddHqZdoZ_CfGPZzGFV-mGHt0EZlq1o)** > > Increasingly, books are something that libraries do not own but borrow from the corporations that do. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simon-schuster-bought-by-private-equity/988242/25 "2023-08-09T12:11:15Z")
Cory Doctrow wrote an excellent (if too optimistic 🙂 ) piece about it yesterday… [https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/08/vampire-capitalism/#kkr](https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/08/vampire-capitalism/#kkr) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simon-schuster-bought-by-private-equity/988242.md?page=1)