Private equity barons have a huge AI problem

In the 2010s, there were two reliable ways to make a fortune. The first was the sale of business software, the countless computer applications that dominate everyday office life today. Companies subscribe to these applications like a magazine instead of purchasing them once like a book.

This “recurring” income explains the interest of private equity funds, the second big gold mine of this era. Over the last decade, buyout funds spent one in every three dollars on technology companies. While software consumed the world, private equity drank champagne.

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