Overview
Providence Equity Partners LLC is a private equity company that focuses on media, entertainment, information, and communications companies. The Providence, R.I.-based company invests between $250 million and $2.5 billion per transaction and manages about $21 billion in committed capital. Providence has offices in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. The firm has invested in more than 100 companies since it was founded in 1989.
Some of the company’s portfolio holdings include Freedom Communications, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Clear Channel, and Univision.
Providence raised $12 billion for its sixth private-equity fund. Its latest fund, the largest sector-focused private equity fund ever raised, closed in 2007.
Recruiting
Jonathan Nelson, the CEO of Providence, has been described as quite a dynamo by Fortune magazine. One friend was quoted as saying: "This is a guy who goes helicopter skiing in Greenland, who once dove under his boat because a propeller got caught in seaweed. This is a guy who enjoys a real challenge." Nelson is a director of Bresnan Communications, Hulu, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Univision Communications and Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network. He was a founder and managing director of Narragansett Capital Inc., where he specialized in private-equity investments in the cable television, broadcasting and publishing sectors.