New York | Henry Kravis and George Roberts, who made their first billions by striking deals that pulverised other people’s corporate empires, stepped down from KKR on Monday after almost half a century in charge of one of the most formidable financial enterprises that Wall Street has ever known.

Companies owned by KKR today employ far more people, in more countries, engaged in more disparate work, even than RJR Nabisco, which KKR bought for $US25 billion in 1989 on the theory that a sprawling conglomerate that made everything from Camel cigarettes to Ritz crackers would be worth more if it was broken up.

Financial Times