Using 196 reverse leveraged buyout (RLBO) transactions between 1981 and 2006, I examine the operational benefits to leveraged buyouts (LBO). Operational drivers of firm value are defined as: increases in gross profits, operating income, return on assets, net income, working capital management, and cash flow generation. Initial analysis supports the literature of minimal deterioration of post-IPO performance. Where most studies analyze RLBOs as a whole, I find that when broken into top and bottom performance group pre-IPO, data show performance increases for bottom performers and performance decreases for top performers. Top performing firms pre-IPO lose up to 50% of industry adjusted performance by five years after going public, consistent with the hypothesis that LBO structures increase efficiency.