This article returns to the issue of how ownership matters. It does so by developing an argument about private equity in present day capitalism and then presenting empirics which show how the financier general partners in private equity have developed a political division

of ownership which reliably redistributes cash to enrich general partners regardless of performance. From this point of view, private equity represents not ownership with control for strategic decision and operating efficiency but the control of ownership through constructing a hierarchy of ownership claims for debt and equity suppliers. The division of ownership remains a source of advantage after the change of conjuncture since 2007 and so the article concludes by arguing for a new policy focus on the position (not the identity or motives) of the general partner as owner.

Key words: Business model, Financialization, Ownership, Private Equity.