🦔Over 13,500 unsold companies are stuck in private equity portfolios right now. PE firms buy companies with borrowed money, load the debt onto the company, and plan to sell in a few years. That model needs low rates and willing buyers. It has neither. PE-backed companies accounted for the majority of large corporate bankruptcies in 2025 and first half of 2026. Saks, Eddie Bauer, JoAnn, and hospital chain Steward Health Care all went down under PE ownership. Bloomberg reported this week that dealmakers are now leaving major funds because carried interest payouts have dried up. My Take The PE model worked for a decade because rates were near zero and you could flip anything. That era is over and these firms are trapped. They can't sell because no buyer will pay what they need to turn a profit, and they can't hold much longer because the companies are drowning in debt at 5% rates that the PE firm itself doesn't pay. The company pays it. Your hospital pays it. Your dentist pays it. JoAnn paid it until it couldn't. Thirteen million Americans work for PE-owned companies. When Steward Health Care went down, entire communities lost their only hospital. The PE firm walked away and raised another fund. I think this is going to be one of the biggest stories of 2027. The exit drought ends when rates come down. The Fed just hiked. These companies are stuck with debt they took on at prices that assumed money would stay cheap forever, and every month they sit unsold the finance numbers get worse. The firms that bought them will survive. The companies and the people who work there won't all be that lucky. Hedgie🤗