Private Equity-owned Companies in Times Square 

1515 Broadway; 761 7^th Ave.; 240 W 40^th St.; 580 9^th Ave.

Private equity owners: Bain Capital, Thomas H Lee Partners, Carlyle Group

Owned by private equity since: 2006

Deal Value: $2.4 billion

Employees: 132,000 (estimated)

Buyout firms run on Dunkin’ Donuts and the 2 million cups of coffee the franchises sell a day. Buyout giants Bain, TH Lee and Carlyle knew a sweet deal when they saw it and worked with Dunkin’ Donuts’ CEO Jon Luther to buy the company, but the franchisees who get up every morning to make the donuts -- and who had about $5 billion invested in their stores -- weren’t invited to the (breakfast) table as the deal was made. The buyout firms made sure they could have their cake and eat it too, though; they got tasty low-interest loans from lenders for $1.5 billion to seal the deal and then set up the company to make sure their own upfront investment got paid off quickly. The folks who pour the coffee, on the other hand, tell us they’re making more like $8 an hour. It’s hard to run a household, let alone America, on that kind of money.