Opinion | Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. (Gift Article)

“A generation of baby boomers, aging into retirement, are starting to sell their machine shops, plumbing companies and dentistry practices to private equity firms… For the new owners, the primary, and often exclusive, connection to the community is the profit they can derive from the acquired asset”

As baby boomer small business owners retire, private equity is ready to buy up a raft of local services, including plumbers, electricians, dentists, roofers, and more. 🎁 www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

The formula is straightforward: Buy a downtown dentist practice for a relative bargain, merge it with a collection of other dental practices across the country and sell control of the agglomeration for a premium

This is awful. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

This is actually something I think about a lot when it comes to excessive wealth. People with too much money are looking for places to invest it. And a lot of those investments are just not good for our society and culture. They homogenize things, and make them more expensive.

the fact that buttigieg worked for these types of leeches is disqualifying imho. Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

“More than half of America’s small businesses have owners over the age of 55 … The formula is straightforward: Buy a downtown dentist practice for a relative bargain, merge it with a collection of other dental practices across the country and sell control of the agglomeration for a premium.”

Boomers are retiring and their businesses are being scooped up by private equity: “Deal by deal, ownership is being extracted from the thousands of communities where businesses were built to the handful of cities where capital is already concentrated.” www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Opinion | Baby Boomers Are Retiring. Private Equity Is Waiting. (Gift Article) f the nyt

A near monopoly on transport to Mackinac Island. By 2024, the firm also owned two area newspapers as well as more than 116 parcels of land, 51 buildings and 6,500 parking spaces, making it the largest real-estate owner in the Mackinac region. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

While selling to a private equity firm is likely lucrative for the business owner, the consumer will face price increases sometimes, by much more than you think. Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

this is disastrous for employment and social cohesion

In some of these cases, an ESOP would allow employees to buy out the owner and earn shares as the business continues. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Meanwhile. Fascinating article about the kind of wealth #inequality we will face soon. This kind of deep trend never gets enough attention. #boomers #smallbusiness www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Private equity has found a new way to make our lives more miserable.

Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/opinion/private-equity-baby-boomers-investors.html

Another important piece about the looming crisis of PE takeovers of small businesses. We should be asking: why do small business owners have so few options other than sale to PE when they retire? Why can't young, local entrepreneurs get funding to buy them out? www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. If we do nothing, the confluence of private equity and the silver tsunami will create an even wider gap between communities that own and control their services and those that do not. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

More & more for them & less & less for us. Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Private equity creates a gap between communities that own businesses and those that do not: New York, San Francisco gain ownership, wealth and power while places like Mackinac Island are drained of control and profit. Protecting local ownership a national priority. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Why Private Equity is a Plague - As a generation of baby boomer retire, they are selling their community-based business to private equity firms who extract these communities capital, their life blood, for the profits that can be derive from the acquired asset.

Great article illustrating just one of the hidden impacts of financialization on cities: as private equity buys up local vets, HVAC repair companies, dentists, etc., control, profits, revenues and capital are shifted from local communities to the financial capitals. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Are you a boomer selling to private equity ? Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

More Private Equity enshitification on the way... "Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting." "baby boomers, aging into retirement, are starting to sell their machine shops, plumbing companies and dentistry practices to private equity firms." www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o... Regulate fkg private equity!

"A generation of baby boomers, aging into retirement, are starting to sell their machine shops, plumbing companies and dentistry practices to private equity firms" www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

“Deal by deal, ownership is being extracted from the thousands of communities where businesses were built to the handful of cities where capital is already concentrated.” Interesting take on private equity, which is to the 21st C. what leveraged buyouts were to the 20th.

As a boomer I would never sell anything to a private equity firm—they bought the newspaper I worked at for 19 years—you can watch the documentary "Stripped for Parts" to see how *well* that went. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

“it’s only going to get worse as more baby boomers retire and sell their companies to private equity.”

If you care about the fabric of your local community, read and share this piece. Doug Lepisto: "We need capitalists - investors and entrepreneurs - willing to build investment models that treat place-based ownership as an advantage. "

Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o... A generation of baby boomers, aging into retirement, are starting to sell their machine shops, plumbing companies and dentistry practices to private equity firms.

This is why we feel so bullish on our Local Legacies program. "If we do nothing, the confluence of private equity and the silver tsunami will create an even wider gap between communities that own and control their services and those that do not."

Very sad that private equity firms are buying up small businesses. Remember when you hire - hire local small business where you can. "Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting." NY Times gift article. Read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

This's been an obsession of mine for more than a decade. I kept expecting Dems to make it a big political issue. I suggested on TwiX, to Biden, then to @kamalaharris.com, and in blog posts in '16 to @hillaryclinton.bsky.social that they make it an issue. Silly me. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

“For Americans to have a say in their economic futures, they must make protecting local ownership a national priority.” Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Buy ‘em out. Consolidate. Raise prices. Cut employees. Move the profits out. Rinse and repeat.

Yep. PE wrecks communities. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

🎁🔗: Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. h/t @fuckcancer56.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o... Not for me it isn't. 🙄

"For Americans to have a say in their economic futures, they must make protecting local ownership a national priority." Private equity firms need to be regulated. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

A generation is selling their businesses to private equity firms.Deal by deal, ownership is being extracted from the thousands of communities where businesses were built to the handful of cities where capital is already concentrated…this historic migration will lead to a new geography of inequality.

Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o... We’re so screwed!

This is something Democrats will address. Choosing the long term good of the people over lining the fattest pocketbooks. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Lies, damned lies, and stats... The article says private equity takeovers under $25 million are up 40% to 1500 per year now. Wow????? Except there are more than a million business in the US worth $1-25 million now. So this is REALLY dramatic sounding, but in real terms it's...... Vapor.

www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

More than half of America’s small businesses have owners over the age of 55 and earn $6.5 trillion in revenue each year. And many of their owners do not have a succession plan. Private equity firms are seizing this opportunity. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

‘If we do nothing, the confluence of private equity and the silver tsunami will create an even wider gap between communities that own and control their services and those that do not.’ Must-read piece on private equity vampires buying small businesses. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Retiring Boomers are selling their machine shops, plumbing cos and dentistry practices to private equity firms. For PEs, the primary, and often exclusive, connection to the community is the profit they can extract. Unchecked, this will lead to a new mkt of inequality. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o... The economy is being despoiled by private equity.

Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o... You know how PE came for veterinary practices?

The K economy writ large, thanks to Private Equity vultures Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. PE Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Now Private Equity is hollowing out Main Street

private equity bundling little shops run by boomers to make, and then sell, big corporations harms local communities. new models are needed. "for Americans to have a say in their economic futures, they must make protecting local ownership a national priority." www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o... This is happening under your nose

Doug Lepisto warns about the transfer of Main Street businesses as older owners retire. Indiana estimates 51.7% of its business owners are 55 or older. Fort Wayne-area Korte Does It All now belongs to a national private-equity-backed group. The sign may stay local while the ownership moves.

If we do nothing, the confluence of private equity and the silver tsunami will create an even wider gap between communities that own and control their services and those that do not. For Americans to have a say in their economic futures, they must make protecting local ownership a national priority.

Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Sigh. Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

"The scale of this “silver tsunami” is difficult to fully appreciate. More than half of America’s small businesses have owners over the age of 55. These companies earn $6.5 trillion in revenue each year. And many of their owners do not have a succession plan."

(Gift Article) Left unchecked, this historic migration will lead to a new geography of inequality. Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Private equity’s only goal is to extract profit from local communities, no connections, no interests outside PROFIT. Invest in local businesses/stewardship or watch communities die… www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Private equity vultures are snapping up small businesses, hollowing out communities even further, and exacerbating rural-urban inequality. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o.... More than half of America’s small businesses have owners over the age of 55. These companies earn $6.5 trillion in revenue each year. And many of their owners do not have a succession plan. Private equity firms...are seizing this opportunity.

www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Private equity is not your friend. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o... And it's not working to the advantage of the neighborhoods. This makes a case for legally requiring private equity to not only turn a profit but to also do good for the neighborhood.

"" Buy a downtown dentist practice for a relative bargain, merge it with a collection of other dental practices across the country and sell control of the agglomeration for a premium. "" Gift article from The New York Times: www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Private equity. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

This is a really important story. Private Equity is buying up mom-and-pop businesses, consolidating power/profits, and jacking up costs for consumers and communities. Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o... Private equity firms buying up small, local businesses and realty, aggregating them and selling the aggregation at an often huge profit.

It will all shake out in the end: when voters say NO, greed withers away www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

"More than half of America’s small businesses have owners over the age of 55. These companies earn $6.5 trillion in revenue each year. And many of their owners do not have a succession plan." 🫠

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o... Private equity firms, once primarily known for leveraged buyouts of large corporations, are now buying up small businesses.

Baby Boomers Are Retiring in Droves. Private Equity Is Waiting. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...

What the 21st century version of the latfundia looks like... www.nytimes.com/2026/10/28/o...