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.
This scene from Goodfellas pretty much sums it all up.
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.”
Funny, I just sent this to my wife last week KKR Definitely has some kind of plan.
Cory Doctrow wrote an excellent (if too optimistic 
) piece about it yesterday…