I personally haven't been through this but my brother has (he works in wholesale). When he signed on it was a family run business but then a PE firm came in and bought a >50% stake in it. He complains about the amount of financial squeezing that goes on - that there is no money for training, 401ks have been shuffled around and the amount contributed is about half of what it was when he started, commissions that were previously available to anyone who could sell/upsell are now are only available to select sales leads, etc. The management has shuffled around with the buyout so a lot of the relationships they had were disrupted and replaced with professional managers that barely understand the business and only care about P&L statements.
Makes me thankful for the company I work for.
