“Private equity. It's ruined so many things from nursing homes to toy stores to vet clinics. But today on the show, someone is trying to do private equity a different way.”
Mary Childs
3:34KKR partner Pete Stavros — inspired by watching his union-worker father fight pointless battles against management — has spent over a decade giving hourly workers equity stakes in the private equity-backed companies his team acquires. The results are striking: at one company, annual employee turnover dropped from 50% to 15%, and individual workers like field superintendent Mike Pavelko walked away with $250,000 when KKR sold the business. The model's biggest variable isn't the equity structure itself — it's whether company leadership approaches the program with genuine empathy or purely as a productivity lever. With Blackstone, Ares, and TPG now launching similar programs, this episode makes a credible case that worker ownership is moving from fringe experiment to mainstream private equity playbook.
Cindy Corte's company, Capital Safety, is bought by private equity firm KKR, causing worker anxiety about job security and the future.
“Mixed feelings. One big fear is, are they going to take it and take it overseas, close the company here? You had all those worries when you have a bigger company buy you.”
This quote articulates the common anxieties employees face during a private equity acquisition, particularly concerns about job security and offshoring.
“Private equity's whole thing is they buy companies, try to figure out how to make those companies more profitable, and then sell them for more money than they bought them for. And very often, the way they make those companies more profitable is by cutting jobs.”
This quote concisely explains the core — and often controversial — business model of private equity, especially its impact on employment.
“Private equity. It's ruined so many things from nursing homes to toy stores to vet clinics. But today on the show, someone is trying to do private equity a different way.”
This bold statement immediately positions private equity as a destructive force, setting up a compelling narrative about a potential alternative approach.