Barbarians at the Gate

In 1988, a group of Wall Street financiers took over RJR Nabisco.

in what was then the largest leveraged buyout in history, a deal so brazen it became a best-selling book and a movie called Barbarians at the Gate.

Because everyone involved understood exactly what it was.

Strip the value, take the fees, let the company carry the debt.

But it sounded really cool.

You think of like the movie Wall Street and of course, the movie version of Barbarians at the Gate, things like that.

And it was very much, especially in the late 80s, it was a part of the popular culture, even if you were a kid.

Yeah, it was also a path for upward mobility.

And it was...

Do you remember Barbarians at the Gate?

Yes.

So KKR bought RJR Nabisco.

She was, you know, in the type suite for these CEO and other sort of senior leaders at that organization, Shearson, they were known as.

And so when I had the book, what was it, Barbarians at the Gate? I don't know if you're familiar with that book, but it was written a while ago.

Yeah, it talked about RJR Nabisco and it was them.

I guess, corporate readers of the 70s and 80s.

I was gonna s-

"Barbarians at the Gate"?

Yeah, that-- Was he in that? That, that is KKR in-

Oh, that was the KKR book

I...

The first time I ever walked into a KKR office in London, I sat down, uh, I met the partner and the then, uh, VP, uh, these two gents, and the first question out of my mouth was, I'm like, I looked around, really fancy office, and said, "This is KKR, right? Barbarians at the gate KKR?"

Yeah.

[laughs]

It's been an incredible run for them, honestly.

Super cool.

Yeah, 'cause that was, that was who I remembered them as, was barbarians at the gate as well, and, and that must be weird for them to have to reinvent as an organization too, but you're coming in after that.

Then, um, any lessons that you learned from, you know, working with Bessemer that you carry with you today? Or I'm sure there were lots.