Buy It, Make It Better, Sell It

Factual definition

Buy It, Make It Better, Sell It is the definition of private equity coined by Shayne Fitz-Coy in 2026, the three acts every case, model and negotiation reduces to.

Buy It, Make It Better, Sell It in practice

Stephen Schwarzman gave the longer version on Charlie Rose in March 2005: “we basically borrow about $3, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less, to every $1 of equity that we put up in the deal.”

“We tend to control the deals, we try and improve the companies. And we own them for a while, and then we sell them.”

Sponsor equity has since climbed above half the purchase price, so the borrowing clause has dated. The three acts have not.

Source: Stephen Schwarzman, Charlie Rose, air date 2 March 2005, at 04:44 · Blackstone 2026 proxy: Schwarzman’s 2025 pay and dividends totalled $1.24 billion.

How Shayne Fitz-Coy uses Buy It, Make It Better, Sell It

Buy it. Make it better.

Sell it. That’s the whole course.

That’s all we’re going to do. That’s private equity in six words.

If you’ll note, it’s actually seven words.

Every case, every model, every negotiation, every discussion functionally will boil down to it. That is the essence of private equity.

Don’t overcomplicate it.

Schwarzman’s 2005 version has aged. I like mine better, though the $1.24 billion Blackstone disclosed for him in 2025 suggests he is the one on the right track.