My favorite PE story is about a certain company created by the government that first went public, the PE.

After the PE acquisition, an exec stands up in front of the entire company and says, and I am not kidding:

"This was a telecom company. Telecom companies grow at 10 to 15% a year. This is now a data services company. Data services companies grow at 20 to 25% a year. Get to work."

PE changed nothing else at that time. They simply decided the company was in another category, and thus, this would yield more money. I have always marveled how some business people can simply move things around on a spreadsheet and think that reality will follow.