I received a call from Citigate Sard Verbinnen at 8:44 this morning. When the phone rings before 9am, I assume it's either from a colleague, a family member with a health emergency or a source with a time-sensitive tip. Well, in this case, it was none of the above.

The caller said she was contacting me on behalf of her client, Silver Lake Partners, in regards to a story published in The Deal magazine on Monday. She began by clarifying that they don't want a correction, but just wanted to point out for the future that my reference to the private equity firm as being based in Menlo Park in the story was incorrect. She said Silver Lake Partners was headquartered in both New York and Menlo Park.

So, I guess it has two heads. Like a hydra.

I think I know what's going on here. Silver Lake began as the first big technology-focused private equity firm when it launched in 1999 from its office on Sand Hill Road. Now, after making some very good investments and raising a second fund of $3.6 billion, it's moving beyond its roots to get in on sought-after deals in New York, London and Asia. It's going global. That's fine.

But, pick a headquarters and stick to it. No publicly traded companies have dual headquarters. They may have an R&D outpost somewhere, but they pick a main office. No major financial firm has two headquarters. Morgan Stanley, for example, has offices all over the world but it remains based in New York.

The only other private equity firm I've come across that tries to pull off dual-headquarters status is venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates, which in the past has said it's based in both Baltimore and Menlo Park. When I called to confirm whether their status had changed, the receptionist in Baltimore hung up on me. I guess it's a touchy subject. — Joshua Jaffe