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University of Utah nearing landmark private equity deal expected to generate $500 million


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Posted
20 minutes ago, TreatyOak said:

Great points and totally valid about cutting research.

However, the Time of London has one of, and possibly the most highly regarded metric for world university rankings in the world. For their 2026 rankings, the US, as usual, has 7 of the top 10 universities in the world, and 13 of the top 20, as well as over 50% of the top 100. That is a fact. 

My point is that we always complain and think everything is at its most terrible.

Do we have a lot of dumb, anti-education morons in this country? Hell yes. Do we have a crazy weird world of college sports? For sure. Do we have the most and best universities in the world. Also true. 

I am looking at a country destroying public school education right now and that has no political stripe because New York is gutting their public schools in favor of charter schools the same as Texas is and those two states are polar opposites on most everything else. The results of this will not be seen until 15-20 years down the road. 
 

The United States has world class universities because the world has been coming to the United Staes to get educated because we used to believe that’s a good thing. Invite the world to come here to get educated and if you have something valuable to add to America we wanted these people to stay and work here. The last decade has shown that is no longer the case. When you actively scare off great professors and foreign students it has an effect and it’s one that will show up down the road. I use history as a guide on almost everything and history says what’s happening now will not end well for higher education. 

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Posted
2 minutes ago, TreatyOak said:

I also mentioned that we are every impressed with the company and the brands they own. I'm not going to mention them here, as she would kill me. And yes, I am a very proud father, so I apologize for that.  

PE is a great platform for ex-bankers to make and lose lots of money. Don’t sweat it! 

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Posted

As for the topic at hand, I struggle with the exit. And I see almost no chance this is anything but a structured investment. Sure as hell isn’t straight equity. And ZERO chance this is a $500mm equity investment per the headlines. PE ain’t stupid. Not going to promise that valuation on a nonprofitable brand. Now, if the structured investment turns equity-like, I wonder how the government will think about it. And exactly how they will find an exit then. 

Quote
Posted
On 12/9/2025 at 10:58 AM, Incredulity said:

Texas will take the money for the same reasons Apple has 100 billion in debt.   Which is exactly NOT because they really, really, really need it.

Apple has $100B in debt because financing with debt is waaaaay cheaper than financing with equity for them.  

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Posted
9 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Apple has $100B in debt because financing with debt is waaaaay cheaper than financing with equity for them.  


Equity is the most expensive form of capital and private equity structures this are the most expensive form of equity. If Utah just borrowed 500M from a bank at 5% and used TV revenues as collateral I do not think anyone would see any problem with it.  

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Posted
16 hours ago, Wilcox Cummingtonite said:

Shocking that the CR circle jerk is all up in this bitch. I’m sure none of you make any money at all.

Waaaah

Everything I don't like is CR!

Jesus fucking christ give it a break 

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Posted
1 hour ago, SimkinsMan said:

Yes, the US academic and scientific establishment absolutely dominated the world in research during the latter half of the 20th century and the early decades of the current one. For that we can thank Vannevar Bush and other visionaries who, after World War II, realized that the funding basic research, largely at universities, was essential to being an economic and military superpower in the modern era. No one is disputing that the United States dominated Nobel Prizes. But that is fading into the past. Nobel Prizes are often awarded for work done 5, 10, or even 20 years earlier. What people are concerned about is the future of academic research. Federal funding for this is being gutted on one end, and on the other universities are turning to private equity to run what is effectively a pro sports franchise. So yes, the US has done awesome in Nobel Prizes during the last century. But nothing lasts, friend. And the trends right now are pretty shitty.

I have read some recent criticism of the "Bush plan."  It's not so much that centering research in academia is wrong, and the private sector can do it better, but it did seem to relieve the private sector of some compunction to spend on R&D and made it easier for corporations to be Friedman fiduciaries, that is, short-term thinkers.

Posted
21 hours ago, DFW Horn said:

It's ironic that Jerry Jones was a better owner before he had "fuck you" money. He's gotten worse the richer he's gotten.

At some point, these clowns and many of their sycophants start to believe that more money is the only way of "keeping score."  It certainly is one very practical way of keeping score, but conflating it with actual excellence, or even goodness, is a huge mistake.

Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, TreatyOak said:

Great points and totally valid about cutting research.

However, the Time of London has one of, and possibly the most highly regarded metric for world university rankings in the world. For their 2026 rankings, the US, as usual, has 7 of the top 10 universities in the world, and 13 of the top 20, as well as over 50% of the top 100. That is a fact. 

My point is that we always complain and think everything is at its most terrible.

There's no question that the United States has the best academic institutions in the world. We've spent nearly a century building them up with state and federal funding. They're the envy of the world. It will take a long time for other institutions to catch up because the US elite institutions are so prestigious they still attract the best students. However, if we look at another metric, you really ought to be concerned. Consider Nature (another UK-based institution like Times of London) and its index of high quality research. Here are the top performing cities in the world as of 2024. Also note the change just from 2023 to 2024, in which every Chinese city rose, and every US city fell.

image.thumb.png.7e8d2aa4857539cdbbf533d2e1b74b4a.png

 

Anyway, I'll stop here because we're getting wildly off topic. But the cold reality is that the quality of US research institutions is not trending in the right direction.

Edited by SimkinsMan
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Posted
9 minutes ago, SimkinsMan said:

There's no question that the United States has the best academic institutions in the world. We've spent nearly a century building them up with state and federal funding. They're the envy of the world. It will take a long time for other institutions to catch up because the US elite institutions are so prestigious they still attract the best students. However, if we look at another metric, you really ought to be concerned. Consider Nature (another UK-based institution like Times of London) and its index of high quality research. Here are the top performing cities in the world as of 2024. Also note the change just from 2023 to 2024, in which every Chinese city rose, and every US city fell.

image.thumb.png.7e8d2aa4857539cdbbf533d2e1b74b4a.png

 

Anyway, I'll stop here because we're getting wildly off topic. But the cold reality is that the quality of US research institutions is not trending in the right direction.

Great post. Thnx

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Posted
7 hours ago, Js1 said:

Leading from behind, as usual 

Also that’s a what’s in it for me if I don’t try to pass legislation making it even harder to run an athletic program from that congressman. Just an attempt to grift.

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