Mixed Ledger entries are deals with a meaningful split across the four pillars — Strong financial returns alongside documented worker harm, operational survival alongside patient-care failures, or company growth alongside regulatory settlements. These are the deals where reasonable people with the same evidence reach different conclusions. The conditions section of each entry is non-negotiable: it explains exactly what's in tension and why the rubric placed it here rather than in the Greenhouse.
HCA Healthcare
Bain Capital, KKR, Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity · 2006–2011 · IPO
The North Carolina AG's 2023 lawsuit against HCA's Mission Hospital documents conditions — patients found dead in ER beds, ER wait times nearly doubling, critical care beds cut — that represent a direct failure of a hospital's basic obligation to its patients.
Dollar General
KKR · 2007–2013 · IPO
KKR expanded Dollar General's store footprint into underserved communities at lower prices than most alternatives — a real benefit for cash-constrained households — while simultaneously generating documented product safety recalls and contributing to the closure of independent grocers and deterioration of local food access.
Domino's Pizza
Bain Capital · 1998–2010 · IPO
Product quality stagnated under Bain's hold period; by 2009 Domino's ranked at or near the bottom of pizza chain taste surveys and its stock had returned only ~11% total in five years post-IPO. The operational foundation Bain laid (supply chain, international franchise expansion, technology) was real, but the customer-facing turnaround happened after Bain stepped back.