Opinion certainty 3/5 debate potential 4/5

Michael Lewis argues private companies are much better run than public ones

Michael Lewis · 10 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis) · Acquired · Dec 15, 2025 · at 1:31:21

Author Michael Lewis argues with Acquired co-hosts that going public generally leads to negative operational and cultural outcomes for companies.

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“I think there's an argument to be made that in any industry where they're both private and public companies, the private companies end up being much better run. And I mean like that mostly bad things happen when companies go public and certainly less pleasant.”

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