Private capital markets have become a favored alternative source of company financing. In addition, private equity firms have become more innovative in developing options for financing the growth of small and emerging firms, and converting many publicly listed companies into private companies. Consequently, more companies are choosing to be privately owned, or are staying private for longer periods before becoming publicly listed.

As the headlines for Elon Musk’s recent misadventures with Tesla suggest, there are relative advantages of private over public ownership. While the decline in the number of listed domestic companies is well documented, little attention has been paid to the consequences of the growing private equity market and its institutional investor base.