KKR

In June of 2021, KKR’s executive team convened to prepare for an upcoming board meeting. From a small, three-person partnership that started in 1976 and invested only in U.S. LBOs, the firm 45 years later was a public company that employed over 1,600 people and managed $252 billion across 21 offices around the world. As a public company, KKR needed to maintain growth to be competitive, and the executives wanted to envision what KKR would look like in 2025. A target earnings number for that year would give a tangible goal to its employees and Wall Street. What should it be? The executives also wanted to provide the Board of Directors a sense of what drove each of KKR’s profit streams. Which profit streams were most attractive and why? As a result, what should be the company’s strategic priorities?