Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Silent Carlyle Has BigMouth After All



The Carlyle Group successfully worked to keep its name out of news and official government reports on LifeCare Hospital's patient deaths after Hurricane Katrina. They even quietly sold two affiliates and a chunk of Carlyle itself to Dubai firms between the two outrages of American ports and stock market sales. While George Bush took questions on the sale of NASDAQ, the ex-Carlyle CaterAir Board member never mentioned other Dubai sales involving his prior benefactor.

Yet, now the private equity underwriter (PEU) wants everyone to hear about its BigMouth. No, I'm not talking about Carlyle execs testifying on Capital Hill as to why multi-millionaires need to pay 15% on carried interest earnings while the average citizen pays 35% in taxes on their income. BigMouth does digital marketing and search engine marketing and is spreading their brand across Europe. Next stop, the world as the firm wants to be a world-wide full service agency. That does sound like the Carlyle I know...