In October, private equity powerhouse, TPG, scored a big win as it took Myer (which is a retailer based in Australia) public. The gains came to a mouth-watering $1.46 billion.

But now there's a huge problem; that is, the Australian tax authorities sent TPG a bill for a whopping $628 million. Its for back taxes, as well as penalties.

Playboy is such a mess that even the hint that a company is interested in it triggers a reaction. Oak Hill Capital Partners, a private equity firm, announced Wednesday that it has no interest in buying ailing adult media company Playboy (PLA), despite previous media reports indicating the contrary. Of course, this sent Playboy's shares down 3.7%. Oak Hill didn't just say "no way" to the present but made it clear for the future as well.

This follows a statement by Golden Gate Capital that it wouldn't be involved in a Playboy acquisition, again, despite suggestions in the media that it might make a move for the bunny. The latest possible buyer is Iconix Brand Group, which is generally hungry for brand acquisitions. Playboy is keeping its mouth shut on the matter.

Could it be that private-equity buyouts are making a comeback? There are certainly signs of a return. Just last week, TPG and the Canada Pension Plan agreed to shell out $4 billion for IMS Health (RX).

This week, we have another interesting deal: KKR and General Atlantic will buy TASC for $1.65 billion. TASC is the consulting unit of Northrop Grumman (NOC).

Actually, the military giant had little choice but to unload the division because of a conflict of interest. How can you provide unbiased consulting to the U.S. government as well as sell weapons to it?

The clean technology private equity momentum continues. In New York, a group of partners has launched NewWorld Capital Group, a private equity firm that will focus on mid-market investments in clean energy infrastructure companies in the United States and selectively in Europe.

The new fund will work closely with Ambienta, a European environmental assets private equity firm in Italy. Both said they plan to collaborate on finding and analyzing investment opportunities -- with NewWorld taking care of the United States and Ambienta addressing Europe.

There are chills spreading across the executive suites in Corporate America. As seen with the latest from the U.S. pay czar, there will be 50% pay cuts -- on average -- for 175 executives of firms that received federal money.

Might this spread like a virus?

It's too soon to tell. However, there has been a refuge; that is, private equity. Right?

The amount of investable assets available to venture capital funds has basically been a growth story since 2003. Dry powder slipped 7% in 2004 and 10% in 2008, but increased in every other year over this period.

Now, the dry powder number sits at $155 billion, according to alternative investment research firm Preqin, just off its December 2007 peak of $160 billion. The big number, however, masks a wide range of market situations for venture capital funds. Dry powder levels vary by strategy and region. To get a sense of what's going on behind the scenes, check out the five facts below about venture capital dry powder.

While the private equity industry is massive today, it is still a recent innovation. In fact, the industry got its start about 40 years ago.

And one of the pioneers is Lionel Pincus, who created Warburg Pincus. Unfortunately, he Pincus died over the weekend. He was 78.

With an MBA from Columbia, Pincus began his career on Wall Street as an investment banker (with Ladenburg, Thalman & Co.) No doubt, it was an extremely helpful experience, in terms of learning corporate finance and building a strong network of contacts.

The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX - option chain) shares are rising today on reports that the buy-out firm is planning to unload a number of its portfolio companies, including TeamHealth, which provides outsourcing services for the health-care industry, and Merlin Entertainments Group, of Europe, which owns Legoland and Sea Life. Up to eight IPOs and five sales to private equity companies are in the works. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on BX.

Blackstone opened Monday at $15.50. In morning trading the stock hit a low of $15.50 and a high of $16.18. As of 11:15, BX was trading at $15.79 up 0.94 (6.3%). The chart for BX looks bullish.

Investors have flocked to foreign exchange trading over the past 10 years, and the venture capital community is ready to grab a piece of the action.

Two companies -- Currensee Inc. and Tradonomi LLC -- are angling for central spots in this emerging trading community, and several funds are placing pretty big bets on their success. Currensee has a social network for forex traders, while Tradonomi's move was to create a game-like user interface to make it easier for would-be fortune-makers and thrill-seekers to trade foreign currencies.

One consequence of the credit crisis shutting off the debt financing LBOs used to make acquisitions is that private-equity executives increasingly find themselves feuding over power, money, and strategy. Bloomberg provides details of the ouster of Dominique Megret, former CEO of PAI Partners, France's biggest private-equity firm.

Lionel Zinsou and others partners delivered an ultimatum to Megret: they wanted more say in running the firm or they would resign from the investment committee.

Twitter is on the brink of nabbing another $100 million in financing, according to the New York Times. This would value the company at $1 billion, bringing back memories of outrageous valuations without corresponding revenue.

Insight Venture Partners and T. Rowe Price are said to be involved in the transaction, which would put them with Spark Capital and Institutional Venture Partners as investors in the popular microblogging site.

The past two years have been terrible for private equity firms. But, now we're seeing signs of life.

If fact, this week there was a liquidity event. That is, the Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) and Lion Capital have received a binding offer to sell Orangina Schweppes to Suntory (a major Japanese drinks company). It appears that the price tag comes to $3.82 billion.

Danny Pang was accused by federal regulators of defrauding investors of several hundred million dollars. The investors, however, will not realize the full extent of justice they would have preferred, as the 42-year-old financier died Saturday morning.

The police were called to Pang's home at 3:30 AM, and the financier was rushed to Hoag Hospital at Newport Beach, where he was later pronounced dead.

So far, the cause of death is unknown. Supervising Deputy Coroner Larry Eslinger has scheduled an autopsy for Sunday, though.

While eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) said earlier this year that it was planning to spin off Skype in an initial public offering in 2010, it is now being reported that eBay is looking for a buyer willing to pay $2 billion or more for the internet telephone service provider.

Those interested in a buyout may include Andreesen Horowitz and Index Ventures, which were early investors in Skype before its eBay acquisition in 2005. A group of well-known venture capital and large private equity firms are pooling resources to join the bid, according to a source close to the deal.

Vibe Media Group, publisher of hip-hop magazine Vibe, shut down in June, as the poor economy led to declining advertising revenue. Vibe has since been acquired for an undisclosed price by InterMedia Partners, a private equity firm.

InterMedia said it plans to resume publication of Vibe in November as a quarterly magazine. The operations of Vibe are to be integrated with those of Uptown, another urban lifestyle magazine InterMedia owns. Publishing veteran Jermaine Hall has been named as the new editor-in-chief of Vibe, and the new business will be known as the Vibe Lifestyle Network.