Private Equity Employer Tracker

Most recent estimates suggest private equity firms directly employ 12 million people in the United States alone, and millions more around the world. The largest number of workers employed by private equity-owned companies are concentrated in low-wage industries such as food service, retail, home healthcare, and security. While focusing on growing cash flows at the companies they buy, private equity firms often take a low road approach and seek to reduce wages, benefits, and staffing at companies they acquire – with devastating consequences to millions of workers, their families and entire communities.

Private equity firms typically have a controlling stake in the portfolio companies they own, meaning they have the power to impact jobs and working conditions. As the ultimate owners of these companies, private equity firms should implement minimum labor standards such as those in the Private Equity Labor Rights Platform across their portfolios. 

The most recent database update for private equity-owned companies employing over 10,000 workers was completed in July 2024. The most recent update for companies employing 7,000 to 9,999 workers was completed in December 2024. The table below can be filtered and sorted by any of the columns such as Current Owner, Industry,or Locations Active.

• December 2024 update
• July 2024 update

December 2024 update

PESP first released a database containing information on private equity-owned companies with 10,000 or more employees in 2023. The database now includes more than 250 private equity-owned companies with 7,000 or more employees. 

Companies in the accommodations and food service industries have nearly one million more employees than the next largest sector, retail trade. More than one million of those working in the food service industry are employed by companies owned by Roark Capital, such as Subway, Arby’s, Dunkin Donuts, and Culver’s. These companies, on average, are larger than information technology or healthcare companies, as shown by the difference in sector size when accounting for number of employees (table 1) versus company count (table 2).

Most represented sectors among private equity-owned companies

Table 1

Table 2

While focusing on growing cash flows at the companies they buy, private equity firms often take a low road approach and seek to reduce wages, benefits, and staffing at companies they acquire – with devastating consequences to millions of workers, their families and entire communities. A PESP review found that private equity firms played a role in eleven of the 17 (65%) largest US corporate bankruptcies during the first six months of 2024 (bankruptcies with liabilities of $1 billion or greater at the time of filing), resulting in at least 19,700 layoffs across the country.

Private equity firms that have a controlling stake or board seats in the portfolio companies they own have the power to impact jobs and working conditions. A growing number of private equity investors have taken serious steps to increase firm accountability around labor standards. Two of the nation’s largest pension funds, California Public Employees’ Retirement System and New York State Common Retirement Fund, released labor standards that will be used to evaluate private equity managers before making a new fund commitment.

AFT, a union representing 1.8 million workers in education, healthcare, and public services, recently released a report, Managing Labor Risks in Private Equity. The report calls on investors to press private equity firms to do better for the employees of the companies they own and argues that doing so will lead to better investment returns. Following pressure from investors and other stakeholders, private equity firms Apollo and Blackstone themselves introduced responsible workforce principles this year.

Despite these investor policy advancements, labor issues persist at private equity-owned companies. Our 2023 Private Equity Labor Scorecard underscores a pattern of hazardous or negligent labor practices within the industry – companies owned or controlled by the eleven firms included in the scorecard paid $1.6 million in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines for violations and $4.3 million for wage and hour violations at their respective portfolio companies. Beyond health and safety issues, other examples of poor labor practices at private equity-owned companies include child labor at Packers Sanitation (Blackstone) and Hearthside Food Solutions (Charlesbank, Partners Group), union-busting at Windmill Farms (Instar), and introducing mandatory arbitration for ZP Better Together ASL interpreters (Ariel Investments, Carlyle).

The examples below are derived from the latest update of the largest employers data, and further illustrate the ways private equity ownership can degrade working conditions and harm workers.  

Retail and Hospitality

Great Wolf Lodge
Blackstone

In 2019, Blackstone acquired a 65% stake in Great Wolf Resorts, a chain of hotels with indoor water parks in the US and Canada. The company employs 12,000 people at locations in 19 states and Ontario. Great Wolf directly owns and operates all its facilities in the US.

In the first six months of 2024, Great Wolf hired 9 union busting consultants to persuade against organizing at the Perryville, Maryland and Gurnee, IL locations.^[1] According to NLRB data, there are no recognized unions at any of the Great Wolf Lodge locations in the US.

Blackstone released responsible workforce principles in August 2024. One of the ten principles laid out the firm’s stance on unionization: “cooperate with and bargain in good faith with workers who have chosen to be represented by unions. Portfolio companies should not make threats, create an atmosphere of intimidation or fear, or retaliate against employees who are exercising their right to freedom of association.” This is not the same as committing to neutrality – this language still allows for companies to hire consultants that attempt to dissuade workers from unionizing.

In contrast, the New York State Common Retirement Fund policy calls on general managers to “adopt a position of neutrality and commit to non-interference” in union drives.

David’s Bridal

With 195 locations and 7,000 employees, David’s Bridal specializes in wedding dresses and other formal wear. According to the company, about 25% of US brides wear David’s Bridal when getting married.

Despite the company’s large market share, it still struggled financially to repay debt placed on it by private equity owners, filing for bankruptcy twice within 5 years. The company first filed for  bankruptcy in 2018, after more than a decade of private equity investment from Leonard Green and Partners (2007-2012) and Clayton, Dubilier, and Rice (2012-2023). After the bankruptcy, Oaktree Capital Management took over^[2] the company. David’s Bridal filed for bankruptcy again in April 2023, and was then acquired by asset manager CION Investments.

Healthcare and Education

Thrive Pet Healthcare
TSG Consumer Partners

Thrive Pet Healthcare is owned by private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners, which acquired the company (then known as Pathway Pet Alliance) in 2020.^[3]

Thrive is highly indebted and considered speculative and subject to very high default risk.^[4] Thrive’s debt load is the result of TSG’s $2.65 billion leveraged buyout, which was financed with over $1 billion in loans^[5] and brought the company’s leverage to 10x its earnings at the time of the transaction.

In downgrading Thrive’s credit rating, S&P noted that:

“the company’s financial risk profile reflects that its corporate decision making prioritizes the interests of its controlling owners, in line with our view of the majority of rated entities owned by private-equity sponsors. Our assessment also reflects private-equity owners’ generally finite holding periods and focus on maximizing shareholder returns.”

Moody’s noted that the company has attempted to reduce debt and increase its cash flow through “headcount initiatives, targeted pricing actions, and replacing its management team.”

In 2023, Thrive announced that it was closing its veterinary hospital near Rochester, NY and laying off 132 workers. The closure came just over a year after workers at the facility voted to form a union.

A former surgical care assistant for the closed hospital told NPR that Thrive neglected operations and that it “took months to get an answer to replace broken equipment or hire new staff.”

State legislator Rachel Barnhart wrote to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) urging it to investigate Thrive for potentially anticompetitive practices and citing the agency’s broader efforts to investigate private equity in the veterinary care industry. Barnhart also noted:

“VSES staff recently unionized, something its parent company fought tooth and nail, making the timing of this announcement disturbing and suspicious. One way to bust a union is to conveniently close shop.”

Duly Health and Care
Ares Management

Duly Health and Care is a multi-specialty physician group with over 7,000 employees based in over 150 locations in the Greater Chicago area. Its operating company is owned by private equity firm Ares Management, as well as the company’s management and physicians. Ares first invested in Duly (then known as DuPage Medical Group) in August 2017 in a $1.45 billion deal financed with about 40% debt.

In early 2021 Ares loaded Duly with new debt in order to finance an over $200 million dividend payout to itself. The dividend deal came not long after Duly collected nearly $80 million in CARES Act aid.

At the time, credit rating agency Moody’s Investor Service rated the dividend recapitalization deal credit negative, noting that:

“it points to the aggressive nature of [Duly’s] financial policies, a key governance issue. DuPage will be meaningfully reducing its cash balance to fund the dividend. Combined with higher gross financial leverage, this will leave [Duly] more weakly positioned to absorb any unexpected operating setback or incremental debt. Additionally, Moody’s believes [Duly’s] aggressive policies pose social risks as key customer relations stakeholders include patients, payors and government entities.”

As of April 2024, Duly’s operating company has a Caa1-PD rating (“subject to very high default risk, and may be in default on some but not all of their long-term debt obligations”^[6]).

Last year, Duly reportedly initiated multiple rounds of layoffs and compensation reductions, and eliminated its palliative medicine services.

Stepping Stones Group
Leonard Green & Partners

Leonard Green & Partners owns Stepping Stones Group, a leading provider of autism treatment and related behavioral health services for children. Its 7,500 employees provide educational, therapeutic, and nursing services in school, home, and center-based settings in almost every US state.

In 2024, Stepping Stones Group agreed to pay $4.25 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging widespread wage and hour violations, including failure to pay all minimum wages, failure to provide meal periods or pay for missed meals, failure to provide rest periods, untimely payment of wages, and other claims. Despite agreeing to settle, Stepping Stones Group denied all claims and maintains that it has fully complied with the law.

Agriculture and Infrastructure

Grimmway Farms
Teays River Investments

Grimmway Farms is the largest carrot grower in the world and was acquired by private equity firm Teays River Investments in early 2021.

The farm settled a lawsuit accusing their ESG report of false advertising after losing a legal argument that the ESG report is not covered by California’s anti-SLAPP lawsuit in 2023.

Since acquisition by Teays River, the company was fined over $59,000 in Federal OSHA fines over seven violations, including at least three involving a worker death. Two of those seven violations have been contested and the cases remain open.

In at least one of those cases, Grimmway contractors were also fined. In 2023, farm laborer Rosa Sanchez died on the job after “Employees were permitted to perform work functions, such as harvesting operations in close proximity to a Commercial Truck being driven in an unsafe manner. . . . Witnesses said they became further incensed when they were told to get back to work while Sanchez’s body lay in the field under a yellow covering while awaiting an ambulance.”

Genesee & Wyoming
Brookfield Asset Management, Government of Singapore Investment Corporation

Genesee & Wyoming is a railroad operator with lines that go through the United States, Canada, Mexico, and several European countries. 7,300 people work for the company as conductors, engineers, mechanics, and more. Brookfield Asset Management and GIC acquired the company in 2019.

In June 2023, Genesee & Wyoming fired more than 30 employees one month after they formed a union. The Teamsters protested and sued Genesee & Wyoming in June 2023. The parties settled in 2024. In September 2024, dispatchers at the company’s St. Albans, Vermont location unionized with the American Train Dispatchers Association.

Manufacturing

BlueTriton Brands (Arrowhead, Poland Spring, Pure Life)
CFT Capital Partners, Metropoulos & Company, Farol Asset Management, One Rock Capital Partners

BlueTriton Brands is owned by Metropoulos & Company and One Rock Capital Partners. The group acquired the company in 2021. The company, spun out of Nestle, is a North American producer of bottled water.

Since being acquired by Metropoulos & Company and One Rock Capital Partners, OSHA has recorded 9 serious OSHA violations, 4 of which involved amputations or risk of amputation.^[7]

July 2024 update

In 2023, PESP released a database containing information on 200+ private equity-owned companies with 10,000 or more employees. The table above can be filtered and sorted by any of the columns such as Current Owner or Industry – 2024’s update also includes Locations Active. Texas has the highest number of large private equity-backed companies, followed by Florida and California. Excluding the United States, where 186 of the 206 companies in the database have locations, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany have the greatest number of companies represented.

The data from this year shows an overall increase in the number of employees at the largest private equity-owned companies in the world. Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services saw the largest increase in employees, with recent acquisitions like NexTech and Guidehouse driving the change. Japan Industrial Partners’ September 2023 acquisition of Toshiba accounted for the significant growth in the Manufacturing sector.

While Retail/Wholesale Trade remains the second-largest sector, it had the greatest loss in employee numbers. Some of this drop-off can be attributed to bankruptcies. The 99 Cents Only Stores bankruptcy led to layoffs for 14,000 employees. Joann also went bankrupt in the last year while majority-owned by Leonard Green & Partners – though creditors have been able to keep the craft stores open, the 18,000 employees are no longer under private equity ownership.

Scroll through the visualizations below to see sector and firm-level data on the largest private equity employers. Some NAICS categories have been combined to simplify the visualizations (ex: Retail Trade and Wholesale Trade).

^[1] Reports are filed for the previous quarter.

^[2] See pdf here: https://archive.md/T0En8

^[3]https://www.tsgconsumer.com/news/tsg-consumer-partners-acquires-pathway-vet-alliance

^[4]Moody’s Investors Service’s most recent rating (January 2024) gives Thrive a Corporate Family Rating (CFR) of Caa1 and a Probability of Default Rating (PDR) of Caa1-PD. S&P’s most recent rating for Thrive (April 2024) is CCC+.

^[5] See pdf here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OvBflS18xPExFr6811hMmftsKziUzBgX/view?usp=sharing

^[6]https://ratings.moodys.com/api/rmc-documents/53954 pg. 14.

^[7]https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=1737899.015

https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=1764538.015

https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=1702846.015

https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=1705298.015

https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=1576813.015

https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.inspection_detail?id=1601071.015

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