Booyah Breakdown: Ticker Ditchers

But don't think they spend all their money on these deals. When a company is taken private, the majority of the deal is "leveraged." That means the private equity firm borrows most of the money from the bank. On a $1 billion deal, for example, it's not uncommon for the firm to finance just $700,000 of it.

And with interest rates so low these days, firms can borrow much more money than in the past. "As long as the debt markets are still open, the pace should continue," says Dave MacKinnon, a transactions advisory services partner at Ernst & Young in New York.

Let Freedom Ring

There are some clear perks to taking an ailing company private. The biggest is freedom, says Sonders.

When a company is private, it doesn't have to answer to Wall Street or to the whim of impatient investors. That means no more scrambling to get earnings-per-share or EBIDTA (earnings before interest, deprecation, tax and amortization) numbers in line with analysts' estimates.

It also means no more dealing with a nagging board of directors. A private company's board is made up of people who also have their eyes on the prize.

Additionally, the dreaded Sarbanes-Oxley is no longer a thorn in their sides, and they can focus on increasing cash flow and running the business. Of course, private companies are still audited because they need audited financials to show the banks, notes Barsky. But that's considerably less pressure than quarterly reports and analyst conference calls.