Private equity in the 2000s represents one of the major growth periods in the history of private equity and venture capital. Within the broader private equity industry, two distinct sub-industries, leveraged buyouts and venture capital expanded along parallel and interrelated tracks. The development of the private equity and venture capital asset classes evolved, from the middle of the 20th century, through a series of boom-and-bust business cycles. As the century ended, so, too, did the dot-com bubble and the tremendous growth in venture capital that had marked the previous five years. Following the collapse of the dot-com bubble, a new "Golden Age" of private equity ensued, as leveraged buyouts reach unparalleled size and private equity firms achieved new growth levels of scale and institutionalization, an example of which is found in The Blackstone Group's 2007 IPO. (en)