Bloomberg's team of eleven will need to play offense and defense at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Four long days of:
The elite meet to greet, and ugly moments happen. The exhaustion of all-nighters clicks in on Thursday at 11:24 p.m. And yes, there is a tangible out-of-touchedness.
I search for a more current theme. It has been the Davos of Our Discontent, Bewildered Davos, and Davos Disruptive.
Big vision and “transformation,” bow ties, snow boots, Swiss francs, Alka-Seltzer, profound thoughts …
Bloomberg's Eleven will compete with Fox News' Money Honey for the right to pander to private equity underwriters in attendance. These generals of captains of industry flip their corporate equity and debt positions for monstrous gains. News sources, including Bloomberg's Billionaire Editor, will toss softball questions. This provides PEU giants the opportunity for sales talk, sometimes characterized in hindsight as puffery. The big money boys are in Davos to do deals.
For those who believe Bloomberg conducts impartial PEU journalism, consider the words of a former Blooming reporter:
There are very few people out there who will talk and write honestly about private equity. I know from personal experience that the financial press is so eager to break news on "deals" that reporters (who are increasingly compensated on the number of "market moving stories" they write) can't afford to be critical of Carlyle, KKR and Blackstone, and risk losing access to people at those firms.
They also can be judged by the company they keep. Party on Bloomberg machines!
