Table of Contents
What is Henry Kravis’ Net Worth?
Henry Kravis, the co-founder of private equity giant KKR, has an estimated net worth of $8 billion. The majority of Kravis’s wealth stems from his stake in KKR, which he co-founded in 1976 and helped build into one of the world’s largest private equity firms. KKR manages over $500 billion in assets as of 2024, and Kravis’s ownership stake in the publicly-traded company accounts for a significant portion of his net worth. In addition, Kravis has earned substantial income over the years through KKR’s carried interest and management fees.
Kravis has been an active angel investor, backing firms in sectors ranging from technology to healthcare. Kravis also owns valuable real estate, including residences in New York City, Palm Beach, Southampton, Paris, and Connecticut.
Despite stepping down as co-CEO of KKR in 2021, Kravis remains actively involved in the firm as co-executive chairman and continues to benefit financially from its success.
Here’s the breakdown of Henry Kravis’ net worth:
Name: | Henry Kravis |
Net Worth: | $8 Billion |
Date of Birth: | 1944 |
Profession: | Entrepreneur, Businessperson, Investor, Financier |
If you’re curious about how we estimate a celebrity’s net worth, you can check out our methodology here.
Early Life and Education
Henry Kravis was born into a wealthy Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1944. His father, Raymond Kravis, was a successful oil engineer who had business ties to the Kennedy family.
Kravis attended prestigious private schools, including Eaglebrook School in Massachusetts and Loomis Chaffee School in Connecticut, where he was co-captain of the wrestling team as a senior. He went on to major in economics at Claremont McKenna College in California, graduating in 1967.
Kravis then earned his MBA from Columbia Business School in 1969. His elite education and family connections positioned him well for a career in finance from an early age.
Bear Stearns
After completing his MBA, Kravis joined the investment bank Bear Stearns in 1969 along with his cousin George Roberts. There, they worked under Jerome Kohlberg Jr. in the corporate finance department.
At Bear Stearns, Kravis learned about leveraged buyouts and helped pioneer the use of this investment strategy. He quickly rose through the ranks, becoming a partner at Bear Stearns at just 30 years old.
However, Kravis and his colleagues grew frustrated with Bear Stearns’ unwillingness to pursue more leveraged buyout opportunities. This led Kravis, Roberts, and Kohlberg to leave in 1976 to start their own firm.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
In 1976, Kravis co-founded Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) with an initial investment of just $120,000. KKR went on to become one of the most successful private equity firms in history, completing numerous high-profile leveraged buyouts.
Some of KKR’s most notable deals under Kravis’s leadership included the $25 billion buyout of RJR Nabisco in 1988 and the $45 billion acquisition of TXU in 2007. As KKR grew into a global investment powerhouse, so did Kravis’s personal wealth. The firm went public in 2010, further increasing Kravis’s net worth.
While he stepped down as co-CEO in 2021, Kravis remains co-executive chairman of KKR, which manages over $500 billion in assets as of 2024.
Philanthropy
Henry Kravis and his wife, Marie-Josée Kravis, have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to various causes, with a particular focus on education, medical research, and the arts.
In 2010, Kravis made headlines with a $100 million donation to Columbia Business School, his alma mater, to fund the construction of new facilities. This gift, one of the largest in the school’s history, exemplifies Kravis’s commitment to higher education. The couple has also been generous supporters of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, donating $100 million in 2014 to establish the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Molecular Oncology.
In addition, Kravis has funded initiatives at his undergraduate alma mater, Claremont McKenna College, including the Kravis Leadership Institute and the Henry R. Kravis Prize in Nonprofit Leadership.
Politics
As a longtime Republican supporter, Kravis has donated millions of dollars to various campaigns and political action committees over the years.
In 2016, Kravis contributed $1 million to then-President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural committee, demonstrating his willingness to support the party’s leadership.
Kravis has also served on economic advisory boards for Republican administrations and has been involved in policy discussions, particularly regarding financial regulations and tax policy.
Personal Life
Kravis has been married three times, with his current marriage to Marie-Josée Drouin, a prominent Canadian economist, lasting since 1994.
The couple is known for their lavish lifestyle, which includes multiple homes in prestigious locations such as New York City, Palm Beach, and Paris.
Kravis is also an avid art collector, with a collection that reportedly includes works by impressionist and modern masters.
Ashley Roberts is the founder of Real-Time Billionaires List. She founded this platform because she likes to know how much celebrities are actually making. She is always curious why these people can make much more money than the ordinary person.
With a Bachelor’s degree in finance, she is skilled at financial analysis and understands numbers related to wealth. Most of the articles on this site are edited by herself before publishing.