Time Magazine's The Curious Capitalist blog's coverage
of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.'s plans to go public offered some
misleading insight into the buyout firm's place in the world.
The blog claims that KKR's portfolio of 46 companies,
which employs 855,000 people, makes it the fourth-largest employer in
the world. Sound familiar? It should, because the Service Employee
International Union bandies a similar statistic about -- as exemplified
by a video of comedian Lewis Black below. Instead of putting the number
in perspective of worldwide employers, the union usually claims the
tally makes KKR the second-largest domestic employer to Wal-Mart Stores
Inc., which according to Time is the world's largest employer.
What's more, the Time post admits such a distinction is
dubious because KKR doesn't own portfolio company HCA Inc. outright. So why
bother offering the statistic at all? - Matthew Wurtzel
Actually, what I said the ranking shows is "how KKR stacks up in terms of influence over worker lives." I'm pretty comfortable standing by that statement. The self-proclaimed construct of private equity is that these guys know how to run businesses better--to squeeze out more value. Just because KKR doesn't own a company outright doesn't mean its managers aren't the ones parachuting in, making changes.
In a February conference call about KPE, George Roberts said: "For us, private equity investing has always meant working to improve the performance of corporate assets over a relatively long time horizon. While economic and market fluctuations may impact the daily operations of our businesses, they generally do not alter our multi-year investment theses nor our detailed plans for generating operational improvement in our portfolio companies." Detailed plans for generating operational improvement. I think if you work for a KKR company that's got a decent shot of effecting you.
Time Magazine's The Curious Capitalist blog's coverage
of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.'s plans to go public offered some
misleading insight into the buyout firm's place in the world. 
Actually, what I said the ranking shows is "how KKR stacks up in terms of influence over worker lives." I'm pretty comfortable standing by that statement. The self-proclaimed construct of private equity is that these guys know how to run businesses better--to squeeze out more value. Just because KKR doesn't own a company outright doesn't mean its managers aren't the ones parachuting in, making changes.
In a February conference call about KPE, George Roberts said: "For us, private equity investing has always meant working to improve the performance of corporate assets over a relatively long time horizon. While economic and market fluctuations may impact the daily operations of our businesses, they generally do not alter our multi-year investment theses nor our detailed plans for generating operational improvement in our portfolio companies." Detailed plans for generating operational improvement. I think if you work for a KKR company that's got a decent shot of effecting you.