Key Takeaways
- • Highwire's research, drawn from 8,298 distinct private credit stories published August 2025 through July 2026, finds private credit media coverage remains more than 3X its pre-crisis level, averaging 879 articles per month from April through July 2026 versus roughly 260 before the September 2025 failures.
- • Negative sentiment has become more persistent: negative coverage held at 31% after the March 2026 peak, compared with about 19% before the crisis, while March 2026 coverage reached 2,217 articles with 51% classified as negative.
- • Private equity's share of negative private-credit-adjacent coverage rose from 10.8% at the start of the crisis to 15% in the latest analysis, reflecting scrutiny of portfolio valuations, leverage and exposure to distressed borrowers.
- • Executive positioning materially shapes media profiles: Ares Management CEO Michael Arougheti's negative coverage share fell from 48% in the acute phase to 1% post-panic, according to the report.
- • Highwire, a communications agency, advises private markets firms that no single recovery narrative has yet been established, creating an opening for evidence-backed messaging and executive visibility.
Summary
Communications agency Highwire released a research report, "What Comes After the Cockroaches?", on October 27, 2026, examining how heightened scrutiny of private credit has changed media coverage of private markets firms and financial services leaders. The analysis covers more than 8,000 private credit news stories published between August 2025 and July 2026, and draws on seven searches encompassing nearly 70,000 news records, according to the company's press release distributed via GLOBE NEWSWIRE.
The report attributes the new coverage baseline to the collapse of First Brands and Tricolor, subsequent concerns over software valuations, and a wave of private credit fund redemption requests. Coverage has retreated from its March 2026 peak of 2,217 articles, a level roughly seven times the prior monthly baseline, but it remains more than three times pre-crisis levels. Negative sentiment accounts for nearly one-third of current coverage, versus approximately 19% before the crisis. Highwire states that private credit coverage has expanded beyond specialist financial publications into mainstream business and consumer-facing media, bringing questions of risk, liquidity, transparency and investor access to a wider audience.
Private equity is absorbing a growing share of the scrutiny, according to the findings. Its portion of negative private-credit-adjacent coverage increased to 15%, reflecting attention to portfolio valuations, leverage and exposure to distressed borrowers. The report also highlights how executive communications influence coverage. Ares Management CEO Michael Arougheti's negative share fell sharply after the acute phase, while JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon's widely cited warnings shaped the broader conversation despite appearing in negatively framed coverage. Oaktree's Howard Marks and Goldman Sachs' David Solomon are cited as examples of consistent market education and strategic interpretation.
Greg Hassel, Executive Vice President, Financial Services at Highwire, said financial institutions can no longer rely on communications strategies that worked when growth and returns dominated the narrative, and that organizations able to explain risk and demonstrate resilience have an opportunity to build lasting authority. The research outlines tailored opportunities for asset managers, private equity firms, investment banks, advisors, exchanges, data providers and wealth managers. The full report is available at teamhighwire.com.
The report attributes the new coverage baseline to the collapse of First Brands and Tricolor, subsequent concerns over software valuations, and a wave of private credit fund redemption requests. Coverage has retreated from its March 2026 peak of 2,217 articles, a level roughly seven times the prior monthly baseline, but it remains more than three times pre-crisis levels. Negative sentiment accounts for nearly one-third of current coverage, versus approximately 19% before the crisis. Highwire states that private credit coverage has expanded beyond specialist financial publications into mainstream business and consumer-facing media, bringing questions of risk, liquidity, transparency and investor access to a wider audience.
Private equity is absorbing a growing share of the scrutiny, according to the findings. Its portion of negative private-credit-adjacent coverage increased to 15%, reflecting attention to portfolio valuations, leverage and exposure to distressed borrowers. The report also highlights how executive communications influence coverage. Ares Management CEO Michael Arougheti's negative share fell sharply after the acute phase, while JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon's widely cited warnings shaped the broader conversation despite appearing in negatively framed coverage. Oaktree's Howard Marks and Goldman Sachs' David Solomon are cited as examples of consistent market education and strategic interpretation.
Greg Hassel, Executive Vice President, Financial Services at Highwire, said financial institutions can no longer rely on communications strategies that worked when growth and returns dominated the narrative, and that organizations able to explain risk and demonstrate resilience have an opportunity to build lasting authority. The research outlines tailored opportunities for asset managers, private equity firms, investment banks, advisors, exchanges, data providers and wealth managers. The full report is available at teamhighwire.com.
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