Home Depot Hubbub Didn't Set Buyout Tone

The gist of the article was that for Home Depot(HD Quote) to save the deal to sell its supply unit to a private-equity consortium, everyone had to make concessions -- including the private-equity purchasers, who had to add $500 million in equity to the deal.

The upshot after examining this single occurrence? Well, look at that headline: This is going to set the tone! Sellers will have to cut prices to ribbons! As the article concludes in its second-to-last line: "Private equity executives may look at the Home Depot deal as a sign they will have to insert more equity into deals."

In other words, one single case ambles along. But presto! There you have it: A bouncing baby trend is born!

Before you go investing your money accordingly, don't forget that The Business Press Maven and The New York Times just got finished pointing out what a particular case Home Depot was. The deal was a double loser: a leveraged buyout in the housing sector. As such, it could not be representative of all private-equity deals.

But there it was. Despite its particular circumstances and lack of backup evidence -- even in the form of two more examples to make that vaunted three -- Home Depot was setting a trend.

A trend that apparently lasted all of 72 hours. Three days after the Home Depot trend declaration ran, The Wall Street Journal went with this setup in its lead referencing the many concessions and supposed tone that was being set by Home Depot.

"The recent drama over financing for the sale of Home Depot's supply unit was in some ways just a warm-up," the article reads. "An even bigger battle between banks and their clients at private-equity firms looms with the impending sale of First Data(FDC Quote) to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co."