Market Meter Shifts to Fear: TPG’s Coulter

Capital markets are jittery, but there are real differences between the current tech boom and the last one, including the introduction of highly structured private financings and a mass exodus from the suburbs of Silicon Valley to the “Digital City” of San Francisco, said Jim Coulter, the founding partner and CEO of private equity firm TPG.

“Having watched markets for years and years, the idea I always keep in my mind is a meter that has on one side fear and on the other side greed. At the moment, the meter has sort of shifted, starting with China this summer, a little bit toward the fear side. I don’t know how long it will stay there, but I think we’re going to play through that cycle for a bit.”