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Message: [QUOTE="JohnFSilver, post: 5110484, member: 1618"] I don't think people get what Bain and these funds do to businesses. Their goal is to maximize cash flow. It isn't to grow business, in fact, their expertise is in businesses in secular decline. How do you squeeze as much money out if them and run them lean enough to generate positive cash flow. They don't take that cash flow to reinvest in growth or product initiatives, they return cash to shareholders through dividends or buybacks if the company is public. Eventually, the businesses collapse because of lack of investment, and Bain liquidates the property. They take a loss on the purchase price and then sell the damn real estate and holdings. Think of these hedge funds as hospice care. They are here to extract value until there is nothing left. Hartford Courant a great example. That hedge fund is monetizing 200 years of brand equity To generate revenue. They aren't tying to sell News, dominate the market, or increase readership and advertising reach exponentially. They are trying to extract cash from the business. Content doesn't matter, they are running as lean as possible (don't even have an office space). If it was a new newspaper, no one would buy it. But it has brand equity (like sports illustrated as another media example) and people default to buying and trusting the brand. Eventually, quality will doom it. But until then the hedge fund is collecting cash. [/QUOTE]