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Amazon — The Carlyle Group’s $260 Billion Mistake

Errors of omission and selling too early

Carlos Velásquez
Coinmonks
Published in
6 min readSep 4, 2022

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Image by Alex Wong from Zibio.com

David Rubenstein is the billionaire co-founder and co-chairman of private equity firm The Carlyle Group, chairman of several civic and cultural institutions, and host of The David Rubenstein Show, a popular podcast that explores “successful leadership”.

Given Rubenstein’s deep business and leadership understanding, one might assume The Carlyle Group’s portfolio companies have always been staffed with competent managers adept at co-opting disruptive business models. Or that their investment errors are invariably rectified once Rubenstein gets involved, enabling his private equity firm to reap exponential returns. While these assumptions may generally hold, at least two glaring exceptions blemish The Carlyle Group’s and Rubenstein’s track record.

This article recounts errors of omission and selling too early, costing The Carlyle Group billions of dollars in forgone profits. Errors that investors seeking asymmetric risk-reward returns should heed next time they consider bypassing an investment opportunity or exiting one.

Error Of Omission: The Carlyle Group’s $260B Mistake

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Coinmonks
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Published in Coinmonks

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Carlos Velásquez
Carlos Velásquez

Written by Carlos Velásquez

I explore ideas that help us benefit from life’s uncertainties. Join me.

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