#private-equity

#private-equity

Private equity liquidity has become a more active topic as we enter 2026, reflecting investors' close attention to cash flows, distributions, and portfolio construction. One clear signal is the pace of secondaries growth as their volumes continue to increase. Volumes reached USD 226 billion in 2025, a 41% increase compared to the previous year. The market tends to rely on two main structures, depending on the type of liquidity required. LP secondaries are the simplest structure.

"Yesterday, following Vimeo's recent acquisition by a private equity firm, I learned that I, along with a large portion of the company, was impacted by layoffs," wrote the company's former vice president of Global Brand & Creative, Dave Brown. He is referring to a firm called Bending Spoons that bought Vimeo for $1.38 billion in the latter half of 2025.

That messaging, which resonated with swing voters frustrated with inflation, helped propel Trump back into the White House. Nearly a year into his term, Trump's approval ratings have hit new lows as he calls the continuing affordability crisis a "Democrat hoax." Now, as the president is attempting to deliver a positive economic message ahead of the midterms, he's turned his eye to the costliest necessity - and one of the most complicated: housing.

The truth about this money: It is invested with some of the worst actors engineering the current takeover. That includes private equity firms, venture capitalists, and asset managers-the most powerful corporations in the world and the billionaires that run them. Many of these people are actively supporting the Trump administration; most are doing little to nothing to oppose it. And all oversee millions, if not billions, of dollars in worker and community capital.

A marketing technology firm that seeks to influence C-suite executives, policymakers, and other important people is getting a major infusion of cash from one of the world's biggest investors. Applecart received a $100 million investment from the private equity giant Blackstone last year, two people familiar with the situation first told Semafor, in a fundraising round that would value the New York-based data company at around $500 million.

BOCA RATON, Fla.- Dec. 31, 2025 - DigitalBridge Group, Inc. ("DigitalBridge" or the "Company") (NYSE: DBRG), a leading global alternative asset manager dedicated to investing in digital infrastructure, and Crestview Partners ("Crestview"), a leading private equity firm, today announced that affiliated investment funds have completed their previously announced take-private acquisition of WideOpenWest, Inc. ("WOW!"), a top provider of fiber-broadband internet services and advanced connectivity solutions in the United States.

There is an echoing melancholy to this era, as we watch the end of Silicon Valley's hypergrowth era, the horrifying result of 15+ years of steering the tech industry away from solving actual problems in pursuit of eternal growth. Everything is more expensive, and every tech product has gotten worse, all so that every company can "do AI,"

One headhunter said that as soon as January 1 hits, "all bets are off."

Caliber Home Loans, which was sold to the parent of Newrez for $1.675 billion in 2021. Caliber made us fall in love with mortgage banking. It feels like when you create a great culture of people that are aligned, have a clear direction and guidance from the leadership team, you can do special things, Pendleton said in an interview with HousingWire. When we lost that alignment at the top, that's when things started to shift.

While mega-buyouts remain subdued, a quieter but significant shift is under way: the rise of co-investments in private markets. After two years of muted activity, UK-focused private equity firms are increasingly targeting mid-market opportunities, platform acquisitions and bolt-on deals, particularly in sectors offering resilient cash flows such as healthcare, business services, technology infrastructure and energy transition. According to industry figures, deal volumes are stabilising, even as valuations remain below the peaks of 2021.

"If you subscribe to our worldview that bringing superintelligence at scale at very low cost is going to be transformative, you try to figure out - how can I invest in that and take the least amount of risk?"

The University of Utah approved a private equity deal Tuesday that promised hundreds of millions of dollars for the school's athletic department, which like nearly every athletic department in the country is running an annual deficit. The Utes need money. Otro Capital of New York, a firm that seeks investments in sports, sees an opportunity. The company is offering more than $400 million to the school, a source told ESPN, plus Otro's operational expertise, to generate new revenue streams for the department.

WREXHAM, Wales -- Wrexham's celebrity owners have sold a minority stake in their on-the-rise soccer club to Apollo Sports Capital, a U.S.-based private equity firm. The deal, which was announced on Monday with no terms disclosed, includes investment by Apollo in the redevelopment of Wrexham's stadium and the surrounding area in the small Welsh city brought to fame by its namesake soccer club since American actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac bought it in 2021 and helped create a popular docuseries about the community.

The United States is short 4 million housing units, with a particular dearth of starter homes, moderately priced apartments in low-rises, and family-friendly dwellings. Interest rates are high, which has stifled construction and pushed up the cost of mortgages. As a result, more Americans are renting, and roughly half of those households are spending more than a third of their income on shelter.

After a burst of new fund launches - enough for one KKR executive to joke last month that the US now has more private equity funds than McDonald's - more funding than ever is flowing into the biggest names. So far this year, nearly 46% of all private equity capital raised in 2025 has been secured by the 10 largest funds, up from 34.5% in 2024, according to PitchBook's private equity outlook report.

OpenAI is taking an ownership stake in Thrive Holdings, whose parent company is one of the AI giant's major investors, Thrive Capital. Thrive Holdings operates like a private equity firm for AI, rolling up companies that it believes could benefit from the tech in sectors like accounting and IT services. Neither company disclosed the terms of the deal, but it will involve OpenAI embedding engineering, research, and product teams within Thrive's companies to accelerate AI adoption and boost efficiency, the company says.

Within the UK, a consultation process is triggered when at least 20 redundancies are proposed to be made within a 90 day period. The process follows on from the company announcing in September that it has been bought by an unknown private equity firm. Due to UK laws, Splash Damage must notify and consult with employee representatives or trade unions, with required notice periods of at least 30 days if there are 20 to 99 redundancies or 45 days if 100 or more are expected.

The number of private credit deals that are changed after the initial deal is signed to include more risky terms for the lender is on the rise, according to Lincoln International, an investment bank advisory service that monitors that market. That's a sign that there are potential "cracks" in the $3 trillion private credit market, according to Brian Garfield, Lincoln's managing director and head of U.S. portfolio valuations.

Despite naming his chain with a heavy dose of innuendo, he and his partners intended it as a beachside dining spot for young people and families. "It started as a place five miles from the beach," Kiefer, now the CEO of Hooters Inc., told Fortune. "You came in from the beach, could throw some coveralls on, shorts...and it was a hangout." But recently, the restaurant chain known more for its scantily clad servers than perhaps its wings and beer, strayed too far from its roots,

A critical turning point in this development occurred in October when Minnesota state regulators greenlit the acquisition of Allete by asset management behemoth BlackRock - set to become Allete's majority stakeholder - and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Allete owns Minnesota Power, the main electric utility in northern Minnesota. The approval came against significant community opposition and, as Truthout previously reported, an administrative law judge's report that strongly recommended against the deal.

In a deal valued at $4 billion, Boyu is acquiring 60% of Starbucks China's business, with plans to close in the first three months of the year, per a press release. The release said that the Boyu partnership would help elevate Starbucks' customer experience in China and speed expansion into new cities. In an open letter on Monday, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol said that through the Boyu partnership, he aims for Starbucks to grow from 8,000 stores in Chinato over 20,000.