Henry Kravis
Henry Roberts Kravis (born January 6, 1944) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist who co-founded [[KKR & Co.[1]]] (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts), one of the world's largest private equity firms. Kravis pioneered the leveraged buyout (LBO) and is considered one of the most influential figures in the history of private equity.
In 1976, Kravis co-founded KKR with his cousin George R. Roberts and mentor Jerome Kohlberg Jr. after leaving Bear Stearns. The firm became famous—and notorious—for the 1988 leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco for $25 billion, at the time the largest corporate acquisition in history. The deal was immortalized in the bestselling book and subsequent HBO film Barbarians at the Gate.
Under Kravis's leadership, KKR grew from a firm with just $120,000 in initial capital to a global investment powerhouse with over $680 billion in assets under management. Major deals included the acquisitions of Beatrice Foods, Safeway, Duracell, TXU Energy ($45 billion), and First Data ($29 billion). In October 2021, Kravis and Roberts stepped down as co-CEOs but continue as co-executive chairmen.
With a net worth exceeding $11 billion, Kravis ranks among America's wealthiest individuals.[2] Together with his wife, economist Marie-Josée Kravis, he has donated hundreds of millions to medical research, the arts, and education.
Early life and education
Henry Roberts Kravis was born on January 6, 1944, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, into a Jewish family. His father, Raymond F. Kravis, was a successful petroleum engineer who founded Raymond F. Kravis & Associates, an oil engineering consulting firm. The elder Kravis was renowned for his ability to accurately estimate oil reserves, and his technical expertise attracted clients from across the global petroleum industry.
Raymond Kravis had been a business partner of Joseph P. Kennedy, the patriarch of the Kennedy political dynasty, in various ventures. This connection gave young Henry early exposure to the world of high-level business and deal-making.
Kravis's mother was Bessie Roberts Kravis. His grandfather George, after whom cousin George Roberts is named, emigrated to the United States from Latvia (then part of the Russian Empire) in 1903 and built a successful business from nothing—a family history that shaped Kravis's entrepreneurial outlook.
Kravis has one older brother, George R. Kravis II, who remained in Tulsa and owned the radio station KRAV for many years.
Education
Kravis attended Eaglebrook School in Massachusetts before enrolling at the Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut, where he participated in student government and developed early leadership skills.
He continued his education at Claremont McKenna College (then known as Claremont Men's College) in California, majoring in economics. He graduated in 1967 and has remained deeply connected to the school, endowing the Henry R. Kravis Prize in Nonprofit Leadership in partnership with the college.
Kravis earned his MBA from Columbia Business School in 1969. At Columbia, he received rigorous training in finance that would prove essential to his later innovations in deal structuring.
Career
Bear Stearns
After graduate school, Kravis joined Bear Stearns' corporate finance division in 1969. There he reunited with his cousin George Roberts, who had joined the firm earlier, and the two worked under Jerome Kohlberg Jr., a senior partner who was developing a new approach to corporate acquisitions.
Kohlberg pioneered what he called "bootstrap" investments—using borrowed money secured by a target company's own assets to acquire controlling stakes in undervalued businesses. The approach allowed investors to make acquisitions far larger than their own capital would otherwise permit.
Kravis and Roberts became Kohlberg's proteges, learning the mechanics of leveraged acquisitions and developing relationships with banks willing to finance deals. The trio completed several successful transactions at Bear Stearns.
Founding KKR
In 1976, Kohlberg proposed creating a dedicated division at Bear Stearns focused exclusively on leveraged buyouts. When management rejected the idea, the three men decided to leave and start their own firm.
On May 1, 1976, they founded Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) with minimal capital: Kohlberg invested $100,000, while Kravis and Roberts each contributed $10,000. The firm operated out of modest offices and struggled to raise its first fund.
Their early deals were relatively small, but they proved the viability of the leveraged buyout model. By the early 1980s, KKR had established itself as the leading practitioner of LBOs, completing increasingly ambitious transactions.
RJR Nabisco (1988)
KKR's most famous—and controversial—transaction was the 1988 leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco, the tobacco and food conglomerate.
The deal began when RJR Nabisco CEO F. Ross Johnson announced a management-led buyout of the company. Kravis, offended that KKR had not been invited to participate despite its relationship with the company, launched a competing bid.
What followed was a six-week bidding war that captivated Wall Street and the business press. Management's group, backed by Shearson Lehman Hutton and Salomon Brothers, traded escalating offers with KKR. The competition grew fierce and personal, with participants questioning each other's motives and tactics.
KKR ultimately prevailed with a winning bid of $109 per share, valuing the transaction at $25 billion (approximately $31 billion including assumed debt). It was the largest leveraged buyout in history—a record that would stand for 17 years.
The deal became the subject of Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco, a 1989 bestseller by journalists Bryan Burrough and John Helyar. The book portrayed Kravis as a ruthless dealmaker driven by ego and the desire to win at any cost. HBO adapted the book into a television movie in 1993, with Jonathan Pryce playing Kravis.
The "barbarians" characterization angered Kravis, who felt the book unfairly demonized legitimate financial innovation. Nevertheless, the deal and the book defined public perception of private equity for decades.
Later major acquisitions
KKR continued completing landmark transactions after RJR Nabisco:
- Beatrice Companies (1986) – $8.7 billion acquisition of the food conglomerate, at the time one of the largest LBOs
- Safeway (1986) – $5.5 billion buyout of the supermarket chain
- Duracell (1988) – Acquired the battery maker, later sold to Gillette at substantial profit
- First Data (2007) – $29 billion acquisition of the payment processing company
- TXU Energy (2007) – $45 billion buyout of the Texas utility company, the largest LBO in history at completion
- Dollar General (2007) – Acquired the discount retailer, grew it substantially before taking it public again
- Toys "R" Us (2005) – $6.6 billion acquisition (jointly with Bain Capital and Vornado)
The TXU deal demonstrated both the ambitions and risks of private equity. When energy prices collapsed and the company's nuclear power investments soured, TXU (renamed Energy Future Holdings) filed for bankruptcy in 2014. The deal became a cautionary tale about overleveraging and market timing.
Evolution of KKR
Under Kravis and Roberts, KKR evolved from a pure leveraged buyout firm into a diversified alternative asset manager. The firm expanded into credit, real estate, infrastructure, hedge funds, and growth equity.
In 2010, KKR went public through an unusual merger with KKR Private Equity Investors, its publicly traded investment vehicle in Europe. The listing provided liquidity for employees and established a permanent capital base.
By 2024, KKR managed over $680 billion in assets, employed thousands of professionals worldwide, and maintained offices across North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Leadership transition
In July 2017, Kravis and Roberts announced a succession plan, naming Joseph Y. Bae and Scott C. Nuttall as co-presidents and co-chief operating officers.
In October 2021, Kravis and Roberts stepped down as co-CEOs, with Bae and Nuttall assuming leadership. Kravis and Roberts remained as co-executive chairmen, maintaining strategic oversight while ceding day-to-day management responsibilities.
Controversies
Private equity criticism
Kravis and KKR have faced persistent criticism that leveraged buyouts destroy jobs, load companies with unsustainable debt, and extract value for investors at the expense of workers and communities.
Critics point to companies like Toys "R" Us, which filed for bankruptcy in 2017 after struggling under debt from its 2005 buyout, as examples of private equity excess. Defenders argue that LBOs often rescue struggling companies, improve efficiency, and create long-term value.
"Barbarians at the Gate" portrayal
The portrayal of Kravis in Barbarians at the Gate as an arrogant corporate raider damaged his public image. Kravis disputed the characterization, arguing that the book sensationalized the RJR Nabisco deal and ignored the legitimate business rationale for leveraged buyouts.
2024 compensation lawsuit
In August 2024, a lawsuit alleged that Kravis and Roberts received shares valued at over $650 million after stepping down from day-to-day management in 2021. The suit claimed the compensation was tied to a tax receivable agreement and was excessive. KKR stated its intention to seek dismissal of the lawsuit.
Philanthropy
Kravis has donated extensively to medical research, education, and the arts, often jointly with his wife Marie-Josée.
Medical research
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center – In 2013, the Kravises donated $100 million to establish a Center for Molecular Oncology. They subsequently gave another $100 million to establish The Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Cancer Ecosystems Project.
- Mount Sinai Medical Center – Close to $30 million for cardiovascular research
Education
- Columbia Business School – The Henry Kravis Building houses the business school's primary academic facilities
- Claremont McKenna College – The Henry R. Kravis Prize in Nonprofit Leadership, established in 2006, awards $250,000 annually to outstanding nonprofit leaders
Arts and culture
- Museum of Modern Art – Marie-Josée served as board president (2005–2018) and later as board chair (2021–present, succeeding Leon Black)
- Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts – Major supporter
- New York Philharmonic – Established the Marie-Josée Kravis Prize for New Music and a composer-in-residence program
The Chronicle of Philanthropy has ranked the Kravises among America's top 25 individual donors.
Personal life
Marriages and children
Kravis has been married three times.
His first marriage was to Helene Diane "Hedi" Shulman, with whom he had three children:
- Harrison S. Kravis (1972–1991) – Died in a car accident at age 18
- Robert R. Kravis (born 1973)
- Kimberly Kravis Schulhof (born 1975)
The death of his son Harrison was reportedly devastating to Kravis, who rarely discusses the tragedy publicly.
In 1985, Kravis married fashion designer Carolyne Roehm (born Carolyne Jane Smith). The marriage ended in divorce in 1993.
In 1994, Kravis married Marie-Josée Drouin, a Canadian economist who had previously been married to Montreal Symphony conductor Charles Dutoit. Marie-Josée had been a columnist and television personality in Canada and was linked in the 1970s to Jean-Pierre Goyer, a minister in the government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
Marie-Josée Kravis has become a prominent figure in her own right, serving as board chair of the Museum of Modern Art, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and vice-chair of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Residences
The Kravises maintain residences in New York City and own a ranch in Colorado.
Lifestyle
During his marriage to Carolyne Roehm, Kravis was known for lavish entertaining and appeared frequently in society columns. Their homes, parties, and art collection attracted extensive media coverage. After that marriage ended, Kravis maintained a lower public profile.
Recognition
Kravis has received numerous honors for his business and philanthropic achievements:
- Inducted into the Tulsa Historical Society's Hall of Fame
- Honorary degrees from multiple universities
- Named to various lists of America's most influential business leaders
See also
References
- ↑ <ref>"Henry Kravis".Forbes.Retrieved December 2025.</ref>
- ↑ <ref>"Real Time Billionaires".Forbes.Retrieved December 2025.</ref>