Yves here. The article cites a list by Robert Reich of how people become billionaires. Reich’s categories wind up missing private equity, since Reich assumes the only way people get rich in money management is via inside information. In fact, someone is twice as likely to become a billionaire by managing money as he is by going into tech. Asset management has strong scale economies based on the size of fund. Get a big enough fund and charge high enough fees (and in private equity, they are both rapacious and well disguised) and you get rich.
The cover of the May 20, 2020 issue of