I have mixed feelings about this. Private equity is illiquid, and you can lose everything. And there are obligations to continue funding more money for investments and if you don’t you can be penalized. These investments are good if you are rich and can afford to lose everything on a couple of them, stay in for the very long term and participate in additional funding rounds to avoid dilution. It really isn’t an investment for the average person. People see the returns and don’t realize the cost and risk of those returns.
The problem is that as equity firms control more and more of the stock, they can exert influence over these companies. They are certainly one of the main drivers of forcing companies to adopt DEI policies.