Buyout heavyweights are increasingly resorting to the old-fashioned way of making money — actually running the companies they’ve bought.

Financial engineering just isn’t working as well as it once did for private equity shops. Some of the biggest, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Blackstone Inc., have added veterans with operations experience from industry giants like Walmart Inc. and Honeywell International Inc. Others like Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. and Partners Group are leaning even more into their roots as operators. READ MORE