Two summers ago, Fortune asked, “Should you buy stock in private companies?”

Fortune‘s answer was an emphatic no. The article’s last sentence says it all.

“The simplicity of public markets is hard to beat.”

At the time, not everybody could invest in these private companies.

Only professional investors and well-off “accredited” investors could buy private shares.

A lot has happened since then.

The SEC finally issued two different sets of regulations.

It tore down the remaining barriers preventing non-accredited investors from participating in this secluded corner of the market.

My partner Adam and I applauded the SEC’s actions. (See some of our comments here, here, here and here.)

When I first read Fortune‘s article back in August 2014, I found it appallingly backward-looking and paternalistic.

So why bring it up now – more than a year later?

Because the one recommendation it made is back in the news.

Could Be Worse

“The safest way for retail investors to [invest in these private shares],” author Jen Wieczner suggested, “is through mutual funds that allocate a small portion of their assets to private companies.” [My emphasis.]

Wieczner mentioned five funds: Fidelity (FFIDX), T. Rowe Price (TROW), BlackRock (BLK), Janus (JNS) and Wellington Management. They invest anywhere from 1% to 4% of their total funds in these private companies.

Is she right?

While it’s too early to give a final verdict, it’s not looking good. The best you can say is, investing this way hasn’t been a disaster.

Fortune (yes, the same magazine that published Wieczner’s article) recently gave us a peek at a couple of Fidelity’s funds that do private investments. (See this article and this one.)

Of the 23 companies it examined in Fidelity’s $70 billion Blue Chip Growth Fund, more than a third have been marked down between this past July and September.