Providence Equity Partners related stories
All articles and analysis
- PEHUB Wire: Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Private Equity Refinancing: No Money Down
- PEHUB Wire: Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Private Equity Refinancing: No Money Down
- Super Bowl Ads Not So Super
My theory on Super Bowl ads is not that they became the event to see in the mid-1980s when Apple launched its computer with its "1984" ad. No, the ads became the thing in the '90s when the games were lousy and we watched the Buffalo Bills lose four straight and there was nothing left to talk about at the watter cooler the next day except the ads. Last decade, we also saw the rise (then the fall) of dotcom companies, which raised huge sums of capital just to launch marketing campaigns. Unfortunately, a number of the ads were sophmoric, such as Buy.com's diddy in Super Bowl XXXIII when we saw a man sniff a dog's rear. Clearlake Capital Group threw the company a bone two years ago when it bought the company for $20 million. This was after Buy.com raised about $200 million from Mobius Venture Capital and others. To be honest, I thought the company was out of business until I Googled them this morning.
- Virtual World Interest Wanes
Venture capitalists have cooled on virtual worlds, according to new data out today from conference company Virtual Worlds Management. The report says that VCs invested $594 million into 63 virtual worlds companies during 2008 (for a list, go here http://www.virtualworldsmanagement.com/2008/companies.html ), down from the $1.4 billion invested during 2007. The data is a little slippery though, as exactly what constitutes a virtual world is subject to some debate. During 2007, for example, Providence Equity Partners put $300 million behind ZeniMax, which counts virtual worlds as just one of its business lines.
- Increasing Number of Firms Stuck in “Fundraising Purgatory”
This is what happens when LPs are cash-strapped: PE interests are piling up on the secondary market, there’s no debt to do deals and no companies want to sell. PE is out of vogue. Not unlike conspicuous-consumption-in-a-recession out of vogue. The fate of the fundraising processes that have sputtered to a standstill hangs in limbo--a little place LPs have been calling “fundraising purgatory.” This is especially true for many first-time funds, with no existing LPs to rely on to at least participate pro rata. Of course, the first-time funds are also the slowest to admit trouble, claiming they’re still working away, despite prolonged periods with no sign of a close. Others have come clean. In recent weeks, the following firms have put their fundraising on hiatus until the storm passes, according to reports at peHUB or elsewhere:
- PE Week Wire: Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Random Ramblings
- PE Week Wire: Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Random Ramblings