private equity

noun

plural private equities

1

: investment in a company that does not trade on a public stock exchange : interest in a private company

… the proportion of the pension fund parked in private equity grew from nearly 21% of the portfolio in 2014 to about 28% earlier this year.

—Alex Baumhardt

—often used before a noun

private equity investments

2

: investment groups that pool the money of investors in order to acquire ownership shares in private companies

Private equity likes to acquire firms with debt, merge some of them together, find efficiencies, expand and then sell the company or go public on the stock market—in hopes of making a profit for investors.

—Kelly Yamanouchi

Examples of private equity in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Infantino faced intense backlash after details of his plan to sell World Cup profits to private equity were published. — ABC News, 8 Aug. 2026

In a private markets environment where nearly every business of scale in fragmented, blue-collar sectors has been consolidated by a private equity platform, TMI has taken no outside equity. — Gustaf Lundberg Toresson, Forbes.com, 6 Aug. 2026

The 31-year-old airline is seen as an attractive takeover target for private equity bidders, holding valuable landing slots at key European airports including London Gatwick, Paris and Geneva. — Hugh Leask, CNBC, 6 Aug. 2026

The Travelers are owned by Diamond Baseball Holdings, a private equity company headquartered in California and New York that owns about a third of all minor league baseball teams. — Daniel McFadin, Arkansas Online, 6 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1959, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for private equity

• inequity