Succession at KKR has offered none of the drama that other firms have provided. In 1976, Jerome Kohlberg Jr., along with cousins Henry Kravis and George Roberts, founded KKR, making it one of the older private equity firms. Kohlberg left KKR in 1987, launched middle market firm Kohlberg & Co. and passed away in 2015. KKR has since evolved into one of the bigger alternative asset managers with 127 portfolio companies and about $510 billion in assets. KKR's headcount numbers over 2,400 people, while its portfolio companies employ more than 800,000 people.