Private-equity firms reaped $3.4 billion in profit sharing for investing on behalf of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System since 1990, the sort of gains that have led to debate over why Wall Street pays lower taxes than most American workers. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...s-it-paid-3-4-billion-to-private-equity-firms
And earned $24.2B. An absolute number with no context like that is worthless. The article is similar rubish, with no comparison on PE returns vs other returns with the same variance profile or the correlation of PE returns with the rest of their portfolio in its impact on the total portfolio effect. PE fees may be higher, lower, or exactly what is warrented based on their returns, but this article provides no insight into the answer to that question.