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PE Impact Report

175 companies. 70 firms. Here’s what the data looks like.

175
Companies tracked
70
PE firms on file
853
Source citations

By Ownership Status

Where the 175 brands we cover stand right now.

  • PE Owned9353.1%
  • On Watch74.0%
  • Formerly PE7140.6%
  • Corporate-Owned42.3%

By Sector

Where our coverage is concentrated.

Biggest Portfolios

The PE firms with the most consumer brands in our database. Major firms own far more than what we’ve documented.

  1. 01
    Roark Capital

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

    17
  2. 02
    Blackstone

    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.

    14
  3. 03
    KKR

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

    11
  4. 04
    Clayton, Dubilier & Rice

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

    8
  5. 05
    Sycamore Partners

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

    7
  6. 06
    Leonard Green & Partners

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

    6
  7. 07
    Bain Capital

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

    6
  8. 08
    Apollo Global Management

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

    5
  9. 09
    Cerberus Capital Management

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

    5
  10. 10
    Sun Capital Partners

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

    5
View all 70 firms →

Methodology

About This Data

This is an editorially curated database. Companies were selected based on documented consumer impact, not random sampling. Sector and year distributions reflect our coverage choices, not the full PE universe.

Journalists, researchers, and advocates are welcome to reference this data. Take the whole table. Just credit us.

Download the dataset (CSV)

Free to reuse with attribution under CC BY 4.0.

Suggested citation

The Squeeze. “PE Impact Report.” pesqueeze.com/report. 175 companies tracked.

Updated regularly as new entries are added and existing ones verified. For questions or corrections, contact us.