Henry Kravis

Henry Kravis cofounded private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts with his cousin, George Roberts, and Jerome Kohlberg (d. 2015) in 1976.In 1989, KKR orchestrated the $25 billion buyout of RJR Nabisco; the deal became the basis of the bestselling book "Barbarians at the Gate."In 2007, KKR and 2 other firms took utility TXU private in a $45 billion buyout. Renamed Energy Future Holdings, it filed for bankruptcy in 2014.Kravis and Roberts took KKR public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2010. Kravis increased a $100 million gift to Columbia University Business School to $125 million in September 2015.