Private Equity Blogs

Why Don't Private Equity Firms Blog?

This question of why private equity firms are not blogging at the same pace as the rest of the business world was originally by Private Equity Database's Blog and it led to the rather long response that follows:



First, I agree that there is a certain amount of limitation placed on private equity firms because they aren't promoting or offering a product as well as just how vast private equity investing ranges by industry, size etc. So the nature of the business kind of inhibits blogging.

Second, private equity initially spent a great deal of effort trying to escape the public attention rather than attract it. So opening a blog about a firm is a little counter-intuitive to the industry, especially with so much negative scrutiny by the media and the public in general.

But to that I argue that it would benefit private equity firms to start a blog too, and it may outweigh the aforementioned negatives.

First, to the problem of how private equity is not really designed for blogging, look at the venture capital blogs. As you mentioned, there are a lot of VCs blogging. Many VCs aren't even blogging strictly on venture capital, they offer tips and strategies or just talk about their life. I remember a news story that talked about venture capital bloggers talking about everything...except venture capital. While I don't know how that translates to business for the specific VC, I do know that the ones blogging are making contacts and familiarizing the public with venture capital. So while private equity is not automatically geared for blogging there are other avenues that the firm could use that would help draw awareness for the firm and potentially expand their contacts.

This leads to my second argument for the benefits of private equity firms blogging: creating a firm blog enhances the accessibility for the firm to the public. The industry has attracted criticism for its lack of transparency with investors but more so with the public, who want to know more about the firm that is acquiring familiar public companies. Even a small effort like a blog is a step in the right direction for the private equity industry as it works to transform its bad public image.

The biggest problem, I think, is that private equity firms are so large and impersonal by definition, so having a blog would mean either using a willing member of management that is authoritative for the entire firm or hiring an impersonal writer that is limited to press releases and firm/industry data. The first is pretty unlikely, the latter wouldn't be very popular.

So while I agree that this could strongly benefit whatever private equity firm takes the lead and starts blogging, I don't see it happening anytime soon.

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http://privateequityblogger.com/2008/09/private-equity-blogs.html