Much like Manhattan apartment brokers who resist putting their best properties on a central listing service, PE firms use performance measurements like multiple of investment or internal rate of return that make it virtually impossible to compare one fund against another unless they started the same time and have had similar cash inflows and outflows.

FORBES: The Top 50 Dealmakers

The dratted devices also make it easier for managers in one time zone to spoil the evenings of managers in another.

ECONOMIST: Schumpeter