The narrative from firms like Bain is that they use their expertise to streamline failing companies and restore profitability. In reality, it seems that the imp

The narrative from firms like Bain is that they use their expertise to streamline failing companies and restore profitability. In reality, it seems that the impact is mostly legal/financial, even when the PE firm isn't a de facto corporate raider. A huge fraction of increased profitability comes from the fact that interest payments are tax deductible while dividends aren't, so LBOs artificially reduce costs. Rearranging debt obligations can break free up cash by dodging severance and retirement expenses. And the ability to recoup losses via unsustainable, high-margin practices encourages PE firms to pursue riskier turnaround approaches, then brag about their success rates while failing to acknowledge that their failures are often more damaging than gradual, non-PE-driven ones. "Alive or dead" may be easy to measure, but the impact on people isn't binary; PE tactics for raising the survival rate largely come at the cost of worse outcomes in both cases. And the cases where PE is straightforwardly beneficial are usually the least-troubled firms, where it's acting more like investment and tax reduction.