The Firms

Controls 90,000+ locations across Subway, Dunkin', Arby's, and a dozen more brands. The restaurant empire you didn't know existed.

Over $1 trillion under their control. Hotels, hospitals, housing. If it's essential, Blackstone has probably bought it and found a way to charge you more for it.

The firm that saddled Toys R Us with $5 billion in debt, then wrote the playbook every other PE firm copied.

Staples, Walgreens, Hot Topic. Collecting struggling retailers like they're going out of style. Because they are.

Terminix, Safelite, David's Bridal. One of the oldest PE firms in the game, with decades of practice buying the services you depend on.

Your dental chain, your gym, your craft store, and your car wash. All connected by one firm you've never heard of.

Chuck E. Cheese went bankrupt. Michaels is drowning in debt. Somehow Apollo keeps getting handed the keys to more companies.

From steakhouses to radio empires, Bain's “turnarounds” occasionally turn around. And occasionally turn into $20 billion bankruptcies.

Friendly's, Shopko, Smokey Bones. If Sun Capital buys it, start saying goodbye.

Named after the three-headed dog guarding hell. Which tracks, given what they did to your grocery prices at Safeway.

The secretive German billionaire family that quietly bought every coffee brand you like. Plus Panera, Krispy Kreme, and your vet.

Small firm, big appetite for restaurant chains that end up in bankruptcy court.

Bought Planet Fitness, took it public, cashed out. Textbook buy-polish-flip.

Guitar Center, Neiman Marcus, 99 Cents Only Stores. If a brand is circling the drain, Ares is probably holding the bucket.

The Brazilian cost-cutting machine that merged Kraft and Heinz, then watched $15 billion in brand value evaporate.

The tech PE giant behind what was then the biggest tech buyout ever. Took Dell private for $24.9 billion.

Saddled PetSmart with billions in debt, spun off Chewy to pay for it, and spent a decade looking for the exit.

A $185 billion Swiss investment firm that turned American daycare into just another investment to squeeze.

When PepsiCo decided Tropicana wasn't profitable enough and sold it to PE, that was probably the last good glass of OJ.

Three bankruptcies for Rue21, revolving-door childcare ownership. Apax's consumer track record reads like a warning label.

From Charlotte Russe to ATI Physical Therapy. Companies Advent buys have a habit of ending up bankrupt or kicked off the stock market.

A hedge fund that buys newspapers and fires the journalists. Their own papers call them 'vulture capitalists.'

Bob Berlin's firm saved Arby's. Its other bets: a casket maker, 24 Hour Fitness bought out of bankruptcy, and a pending $1.5 billion deal for Pizza Hut.