- Source of Wealth: Private Equity
- Age: 76
- Birth Place: Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
- Marital Status: Married (Marie-Josée Drouin)
- Full Name: Henry R. Kravis
- Nationality: American
- Date of Birth: January 6, 1944
- Occupation: Businessman, Investor, Philanthropist
- Education: Claremont McKenna College, Columbia Business School
- Children: 3 (Harrison, Kimberly, Robert)
Henry Kravis is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist who has an estimated net worth of $5.9 billion. He is a co-founder of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), a global private equity firm with more than $62 billion worth of assets and has a market cap of approximately $16.5 billion as of October 2017.
Along with his cousins, George Roberts and Jerome Kohlberg, they established KKR in 1976 due to the tension which built up between Bear Stears and the dynamic trio, Kohlberg, Kravis and Roberts. Through the years, the company has made investments in Regal Entertainment Group, Hospital Corporation of America, Duracell, First Date, Playtex and Toys “R” US.
In 1989, the firm orchestrated the $25 billion buyout of RJR Nabisco, a deal which became the basis of the bestselling book “Barbarians at the Gate.” Along with two other firms in 2007, KKR took utility TXU private in a $45 billion buyout. It was renamed Energy Future Holdings, which filed for bankruptcy in 2014. Four years later, KKR was listed public in the New York Stock Exchange.
Henry Kravis is known to be a generous supporter in the campaigns of many political figures including John McCain and President George W. Bush. As a philanthropist, he is one of the generous donors to Columbia University Business School, as he increased his $100 million gift to $125 million in September 2015.