private equity

British  

noun

1. finance equity in a business that is raised from private sources, as opposed to shares that can be traded publicly

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Example Sentences

The private equity firm said the challenges were partly due to the "forced" name change, saying that it negatively impacted public awareness of the brand.

From BBC • May 6, 2026

“We have seen how private equity has operated in many different industries to extract profit and not reinvest in the long-term health of the industry,” Kalra said.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026

The publicly traded company was sold to a private equity firm for $5.2 billion in 2021.

From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2026

TKE, or TK Elevator, split from Germany's Thyssenkrupp to become a standalone company in 2020 and is owned by a consortium including the private equity groups Advent and Cinven.

From Barron's • Apr. 29, 2026

Their stint in the private equity business—in which firms buy and sell entire companies over the counter—led them to believe that private stock markets might be more efficient than public ones.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis