KKR

In 1988, KKR spotted an opening. RJR Nabisco cost $25 billion to buy. KKR had $2 billion in the bank. They borrowed $21.7 billion from banks and used the company's own factories, brands and cash flow as collateral for the debt that bought it. The math looked impossible. KKR moved fast. They fired thousands, sold divisions, stripped assets for cash. The company that once made cookies and cigarettes became a machine for servicing debt. Money that should have gone into factories went to banks instead. Every dollar had to count. Costs that seemed acceptable before became unaffordable. Then luck arrived. The economy strengthened.