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The Asset Class

How Private Equity Turned Capitalism Against Itself
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The Asset Class

By: Hettie O'Brien
Narrated by: Hettie O'Brien
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About this listen

 You don't know their names, but they own the house you rent. They own your hospitals, nurseries and care homes, the media you consume and the companies you work for. They even own the tools your union uses to fight back. Business is a contest - and they say their people are built to win. But when does competition become a struggle to the death?

For decades, private equity firms have infiltrated every corner of modern life. Wielding debt as a weapon, they push vital services into crisis. Their cover story: that this is merely the 'creative destruction' essential to growth. Old-school capitalists say they're dismantling everything that made our economies work.

In The Asset Class, reporter Hettie O'Brien penetrates a hidden empire of billion-dollar deals and covert financial warfare. From Copenhagen to San Francisco, Barcelona to the Yorkshire Dales, she follows the money, the ideological roots and the trail of destruction. What she finds is chilling: private equity isn't just reshaping the economy - it's selling out the foundations of Western society.

The new owners think they can hide in the shadows. But the owned are fighting back.©2026 Hettie O’Brien (P)2026 Orion Publishing Group Limited Corporate & Public Finance

Critic reviews

O'Brien has entered a hidden world and exposed its secrets. This is financial journalism at its best . . . utterly terrifying and too plausible for comfort (PETER OBORNE, author of THE ASSAULT ON TRUTH)
Private equity has quietly taken control of the foundations of everyday life, spreading insecurity and 'enshittifying' everything from coffee shops to care homes. O'Brien reveals its arcane dynamics by telling the stories of the fascinating - and often unscrupulous - characters at its heart. This is essential reading (GRACE BLAKELEY, author of VULTURE CAPITALISM)
The story of how money to fund housing, social care and hospitals was captured by the few. We should call this what it is: a legalised smash-and-grab raid on public infrastructure whilst governments, many bought with donations, sat and watched. A wild and engaging ride (JOLYON MAUGHAM, author of BRINGING DOWN GOLIATH)
A brilliant and penetrating analysis exposing the larceny that powers the private equity industry. This rollicking tale uncovers tricks that are ultimately so simple and brazen that the mind is repelled, and in the process shows a great undertow sapping our economies and feeding public rage (NICHOLAS SHAXSON, author of THE FINANCE CURSE)
This is essential investigative journalism. If you want to understand the deep divides of ownership that so strongly shape the inequities of British society, read on (KATE RAWORTH, author of DOUGHNUT ECONOMICS)
A scary book. Through a dazzling investigation, it shows how the secretive industry of private equity has extended its dominion over everyday life and is now tearing apart the very fabric of our society. However, it is ultimately empowering. It clearly tells us how this industry works and what its pressure points are, knowing which is the first step towards fighting back. The struggle to rebuild a decent society should start with this book (HA-JOON CHANG, author of 23 THINGS THEY DON'T TELL YOU ABOUT CAPITALISM)
A riveting account of how the Machiavellian men of private finance reveled in the labels of apex beasts. However, so often, as O'Brien forensically documents, there was corruption and deceit at play. As the returns evaporate, as the scandals multiply, The Asset Class deftly lifts the curtain on a murky world of greed and destruction (DANNY DORLING, author of SHATTERED NATION)
The Asset Class shows you who really rules the world, then it shows them fracking your granny. Read it if you want to know who precisely is to blame for, well, everything (OLIVER BULLOUGH, author of EVERYBODY LOVES OUR DOLLARS)
Combining muckraking with moral clarity, Hettie O'Brien tells an utterly original story about how private equity targets people at their most vulnerable, sniffing out weakness to splinter what is left of the postwar social democratic order. Illuminating and infuriating (QUINN SLOBODIAN, author of HAYEK'S BASTARDS)
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