Thiel Acquired by Private Equity Firm

Just saw the news regarding Thiel's acquisition. I have an outsider (and mostly uninformed) opinion that the company was very much driven by Jim's vision and that after his passing, something had to happen to replace the energy and focus he had. When the owners could not find a suitable replacement with their own resources, they opted to sell the business. Any thoughts as to what happens now? I am concerned that we will not see future innovations in the same vein as the past (maybe the will move more downstream to grow market share). I also worry that they might lose expertise which could impact their ability to honor warranty work...