This week we continue our conversation with Josh Lerner, the Chair of the Entrepreneurship Unit and the Jacob H. Schiff Professor at Harvard Business School. He has recently been named one of the 100 most influential people in private equity over the past decade by Private Equity International magazine. He currently serves as Vice Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of Investing. Second of two parts – View part one
The Lead Left: How do you think the PE industry is doing when it comes to creating jobs?
Josh Lerner: There’s certainly a big differential between the public-to-private deals, where job losses have been common, and the typical PE investment where job expansion comes with growth. It really depends on the deal.
TLL: It seems like the VC community has done a better job in selling the job creation proposition.
JL: It’s complicated. Venture capital has done a great job of presenting itself. While VC has created firms that create jobs, it has destroyed them in other areas where disruptive technology occurs. For example, companies that run classified ads on-line vs. newspapers. To really do the social calculus is very complex.