Petraeus joins KKR
Former CIA director and retired military general David Petraeus has joined private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) as chairman of a group that will "study macroeconomic trends and government policies to assess their implications on the firm's investments."
He also will advise KKR's investment teams on due diligence, particularly in emerging markets.
Thoughts?
links or it didn't happen.
This goes to say that you're never too old to follow your dreams.
lol. not everybody's dream is to work in PE. I'd say being a CIA director and general in the military are cooler than PE. Seems like he wants to settle down and make $$$.
Lol yeah sarcasm. I'm actually trying to do the opposite right now.
Unless you're not a retired 4 star general who is personal friends with the founder of a major investment fund.
I'll bet Carlyle's pissed.
I was actually just going to say the same thing...they seem to go out of their way to recruit government / foreign policy types.
Should have gotten a job at the Clinton Foundation. I'm sure Ol' Bill would love to have him ;)
Same things happens all the time with public sector folk: lots of them become lobbyists or work at think tanks. Others go to Wall Street. Harold Ford Jr. works at Merrill after losing his House Seat. Jack Lew worked for the prop trading arm at Citi.
This might seem dumb, but I'm not really hip to the Washington/Beltway business: what are they paying him for at this "institute"? Is it all just a euphemism for lobbyist?
Maybe it's for prestige/impressing clients. They can say stuff like "we have a former 4-star general at our firm".
What clients? They are (primarily) a PE shop. LPs, maybe? Seems dubious.
One of the oldest adages in military history is 'Amateurs study tactics, professionals study logistics.'
A 4-star general is also a supply chain genius. As well as being connected in DC and the Pentagon (and with every company that supplies the military from Boeing to Kraft Foods to Dow Chemical etc. and their suppliers) Petreaus could probably walk into any globally-based company, or government, and find inefficiencies that most people would miss. He has serious experience in handling a budget north of $100B that feeds, clothes, transports and supports several million people, and that is not including any combat-related responsibilities. This was a no-brainer for KKR.
Ever sent a 4-star general on a Starbucks run for the office after waking him up at 4am to scream at him about a formatting error in the pitchbook he submitted earlier that evening?
It's intoxicating.
Bet he won't fuck up a Chipotle order tho
Probably got hired for diversity. Such BS.
Petaeus' wife works at the CFPB....with so many in the sector hesitant due to uncertainty of where the CFPB will turn its attention I bet KKR makes plays in spaces that never get touched.
Just think of the contacts he has in all the major defense and non defense companies, as well as in government. He is a power player.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^This. That's what Senators/Congressmen/Anyone high up inside the Beltway do. They get hired after their public sector career for one main reason: their contacts. They go to K Street to be a lobbyist, to a high powered law firm, wherever because they are the gateway and facilitate deals plain and simple. Sometimes getting the introduction is the hardest step.
TNA is spot on. It's his rolodex plus the fact that he will supposedly bring instant credible in foreign affairs (albeit significantly less after his scandal)
And KKR is a player in defense, and has significant investments in foreign infrastructure. PE firms generally have less of a need to trot out bigwigs for meetings with corporate executives than an investment bank.
This kind of a hire might actually hurt you with LPs, notably state pension funds, given his seniority and thus innate politicization.
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/05/30/k-k-r-hires-petraeus/
So its true...
Doesn't he have a PhD in interbational affairs from princeton
G shit.
Due diligence with a machine gun ?
Just to back up what Eddie says
KKR sees opportunity in government spending then?
This guy also knows the future: what weapons systems, what conflicts, and what the key players are likely to be down the road. It's one thing to have an analyst crank out projections, it's another to have a guy who was running shit basically point out what's obvious to him.
Check out this comment on Huffington Post:
"HUFFPOST SUPER USER crollo 343 Fans 3 hours ago (11:26 AM) The next time you see one of these big time, fancy Generals or Colonels on a news network... don't worship them. Don't think they're heros. Don't think they stand for America. They stand for corporate profit."
Teaching at USC wasn't enough...
He probably does want to cash in on the experience. I would.... Advising on a portfolio of emerging market companies pays better, probably causes fewer headaches, and takes less time out of your day than chasing Al-Qaeda all over the planet.
I guess they offered more than Carlyle
"[The KKR Global Institute] ...will periodically serve as an outlet for publishing the firm’s thought leadership products, including views from portfolio managers and industry experts." - http://www.kkr.com/company/kkr-global-institute
Thought leadership products is quite a flowery way of saying "editorials." Damn, it sounds nice though!
"Commanding the US Army is pretty fuckin' killer on a resume" - Gomez Addams This actually made me laugh out loud. I don't think these guys have resumes, so to speak. I think the general rule is: If you've commanded the most powerful army ever to exist, don't worry, you're qualified.
Do you think he ends his resume with "references available upon request?"
Corpses of [former combatants] available upon request.
Battle shop experience.
Special services: will drone to your door.
No witnesses services upon request. Also, email hack and tank.
Square and fair.
LOL! Of course they don't need resumes....That reminds me of the joke on '30 Rock' "He's on Linkedin...He might as well be dead"- Jack
I guess PE is the end all be all...
In all seriousness disappointed to hear he went that route. Feel like he could be doing a lot of good elsewhere with his talents.
Besides, once you work for the CIA, especially directing it, you never really leave that world...
http://www.militaryfactory.com/military_pay_scale.asp
Ironically, this guy is arguably the most qualified and desirable person to have in any high-stress, -risk, and -reward leadership position, yet he stayed in the army, which was only paying him a $224k annual base salary prior to his retirement. Just goes to show that you don't always do a job only for the money.
Just when I thought KKR couldn't get any more preftstigious
I never would have guessed that David Petraeus would get on Wall Street before Tim Geithner
love the tags btw "kkr why_no_cfa"
I like his surname, Petraeus. Greek?
Most Greek people I've met are hilarious.
Looks like this is a good lesson for the college, high school, and elementary school kids on here...if you want the big jobs in PE, you shouldn't be pre-business...you should be pre-Iraq.
Pretty surprised that Petraeus, who's an academic by training, would opt for a PE firm. I wonder what his compensation package was like.
He'll be running for Governor/Senate in some ultra-red state soon enough.
Anyone remember when there was big pressure on McCain in 08 and Romney in 12 to pick him as the VP candidate, given the controversy that emerged that would've been a horid move - well maybe not worse than McCain's eventual pick...
You know you've lost your way as a political party when you pick Sarah Palin for VP over a three star general.
It's hilarious how he will be much better off financially now than when he was the head of the CIA. Ahhh, the options for someone super successful.
lol at people thinking petraeus is gna do supply chain optimization for some portfolio co...
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