KKR & Co. L.P.

Type	Public (Euronext: KKR, NYSE: KKR)[1]
Industry	Private equity
Founded	1976
Founder(s)	Jerome Kohlberg, resigned 1987 Henry Kravis, Senior Partner George R. Roberts, Senior Partner
Headquarters	New York, United States 13 offices in 9 countries[2]
Products	Leveraged buyouts, Growth capital
Total assets	$60 billion
Website	www.kkr.com

KKR & Co. L.P. (formerly known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.) (NYSE: KKR) is an American-based global private equity firm, specializing in leveraged buyouts, based in New York. The firm sponsors and manages private equity investment funds. Since its inception, the firm has completed over $400 billion of private equity transactions and was a pioneer in the leveraged buyout industry.^[3][4] In March 2010, KKR filed to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE),^[5] with trading commencing on July 15, 2010.

The firm was founded in 1976 by Jerome Kohlberg, Jr., and cousins Henry Kravis and George R. Roberts, all of whom had previously worked together at Bear Stearns, where they completed some of the earliest leveraged buyout transactions. Since its founding, KKR has completed a number of landmark transactions including the 1989 leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco, which was the largest buyout in history to that point, as well as the 2007 buyout of TXU, which is currently the largest buyout completed to date.^[6][7] KKR has completed investments in over 160 companies since 1977, completing at least one investment in every year except 1982 and 1990.^[8]

KKR is headquartered in New York City with thirteen additional offices in the US, Europe and Asia.^[2] In October 2009, KKR listed shares in the company, through KKR & Co. an affiliate that holds 30% of the firm's ownership equity, with the remainder held by the firm's partners.

The firm[link]

KKR is operated by its managing partners Henry Kravis and George R. Roberts and a team of approximately 140 investment professionals and 400 total employees, organized into industry focused groups.^[3] KKR is headquartered in the Solow Building at 9 West 57th Street in New York City and has offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco, Houston, Washington, DC, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing, Mumbai, Dubai, Seoul and Sydney.^[2]

KKR invests primarily through leveraged buyouts as well as growth capital investments (including "PIPE" investments in public companies). It specializes in private equity investments with a focus on specific industry sectors where the firm has created nine dedicated investment groups. The industries in which KKR has developed a specialization include:^[9]

• Chemicals
• Consumer products
• Energy & natural resources
• Financial services
• Health care
• Industrial
• Media and communications
• Retail
• Technology

The professionals in each of KKR's industry-focused groups are expected to have developed a proficiency in the respective industry.^[9]

Investment funds and other affiliates[link]

Private equity funds[link]

KKR has historically relied primarily on private equity funds, pools of committed capital that are raised from a broad array of institutional investors (e.g., pension funds, insurance companies, investment Banks, commercial Banks, endowments, fund of funds, high net worth individuals, sovereign wealth funds).^[3][10] As of the end of 2008, KKR had completed fund-raising for approximately 14 traditional investment funds in the US, Europe and Asia with total committed capital of approximately US$58 billion:

Source: Preqin,^[11] SEC Filings^[3]

KKR Financial[link]

KKR Financial (NYSE: KFN) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) and specialty finance company that invests in residential and commercial mortgage loans and mortgage-backed securities as well as corporate loans and debt securities, asset-backed securities and equity securities. KFN was founded in 2004 raising $795 million in a private placement and raised $849 million in a June 2005 initial public offering, increasing the size of the offering from an original $600 million target.^[12] KKR had initially considered structuring KFN as a business development company like Apollo Management's Apollo Investment Corporation but chose to pursue the REIT structure to capitalize on the strength in REIT valuations at the time.^[12]

KFN was an early casualty of the subprime mortgage crisis and in September 2007, Henry Kravis and George Roberts injected $270 million into the company. On February 20, 2008, KFN was once again forced to delay the repayment of billions of dollars of commercial paper, and began a new round of talks with creditors.^[13] In April, KFN sold a controlling interest in a real estate subsidiary to an investment firm to raise cash and entered an agreement with the noteholders of certain secured commercial paper issued by two asset-backed entities. Following the transaction, KFN converted from a REIT to a limited liability company.^[14]

KKR Private Equity Investors[link]

KKR Private Equity Investors (Euronext: KPE) is a publicly traded private equity fund that invests as a fund of funds in KKR private equity funds. KPE also co-invests in transactions alongside KKR's private equity funds. KPE was founded in 2006. In May 2006, KKR raised $5 billion in an initial public offering for a KPE to serve as a new permanent investment vehicle listing it on the Euronext exchange in Amsterdam. KKR raised three times more than it expected, as many of the investors in KPE were hedge funds seeking exposure to private equity but could not make long term commitments to private equity funds. Because private equity had been booming in preceding years, investing in a KKR fund was attractive to investors.^[15]

However, KPE's first-day performance was lackluster, trading down 1.7% and trading volume was limited.^[16] Initially, a handful of other private equity firms and hedge funds had planned to follow KKR's lead but shelved those plans when KPE's performance continued to falter after its IPO. KPE's stock declined from an IPO price of €25 per share to €18.16 (a 27% decline) at the end of 2007 and a low of €11.45 (a 54.2% decline) per share in Q1 2008.^[17]

KPE disclosed in May 2008 that it had completed approximately $300 million of secondary sales of selected limited partnership interests in, and undrawn commitments to, certain KKR-managed funds in order to generate liquidity and repay borrowings.^[18]

History[link]

Founding and early history[link]

Running the corporate finance department for Bear Stearns in the 1960s and 1970s, Jerome Kohlberg and later with protégés Henry Kravis and George Roberts completed a series of what they described as "bootstrap" investments beginning in 1964-65. They targeted family-owned businesses, many of which had been founded in the years following World War II which by the 1960s and 1970s were facing succession issues. Many of these companies lacked a viable or attractive exit for their founders as they were too small to be taken public and the founders were reluctant to sell out to competitors and so a sale to a financial buyer could prove attractive.^[4][19]

Henry Kravis speaking at the World Economic Forum in 2009

Their acquisition of Orkin Exterminating Company in 1964 is among the first significant leveraged buyout transactions.^[20] In the following years the three Bear Stearns bankers would complete a series of buyouts including Stern Metals (1965), Incom (a division of Rockwood International, 1971), Cobblers Industries (1971), and Boren Clay (1973) as well as Thompson Wire, Eagle Motors and Barrows through their investment in Stern Metals. Although they had a number of highly successful investments, the $27 million investment in Cobblers ended in bankruptcy.^[21]

By 1976, tensions had built up between Bear Stearns and Kohlberg, Kravis and Roberts leading to their departure and the formation of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. in that year. Most notably, Bear Stearns executive Cy Lewis had rejected repeated proposals to form a dedicated investment fund within Bear Stearns and Lewis took exception to the amount of time spent on outside activities.^[22]

The new KKR completed its first buyout, that of manufacturer A.J. Industries, in 1977. KKR raised capital from a small group of investors including the Hillman Family^[23] and First Chicago Bank. By 1978, with the revision of the ERISA regulations, the nascent KKR was successful in raising its first institutional fund with over $30 million of investor commitments.^[24] In 1981, KKR expanded its investor base significantly when the Oregon State Treasury's public pension fund invested in KKR's acquisition of retailer Fred Meyer, Inc. Oregon remains an active investor in KKR funds more than 25 years later.^[4]

KKR closed out the 1970s completing the public-to-private buyout of Houdaille Industries in 1979,^[25] probably the largest take-private of a public company to that point. As the 1980s began, KKR was among the most prominent practitioner of leveraged buyouts and would prove the most prolific of the private equity investors in the 1980s.^[4] Among the firm's most notable acquisitions during the 1980s buyout boom were the following:

Barbarians at the Gate - KKR's leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco[link]

After the 1987 resignation of Jerome Kohlberg at age 61 (he later founded his own private equity firm, Kohlberg & Co.), Henry Kravis succeeded him as senior partner. Under Kravis and Roberts, the firm was responsible for the 1988 leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco. RJR Nabisco proved to be not only the largest buyout in history to that time, at $25 billion ($31.1 billion, including assumed debt) as well as a high water mark and sign of the end of the 1980s buyout boom. The RJR Nabisco, which would remain the largest buyout for the next 17 years, was chronicled in the book, Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco, and later made into a television movie starring James Garner.^[33]

In 1988, F. Ross Johnson was the President and CEO of RJR Nabisco, formed in 1985 by the merger of Nabisco Brands and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, a leading producer of food products (Shredded Wheat, Oreo cookies, Ritz crackers, Planters peanuts, Life Savers, Del Monte Fruit and Vegetables, and Snickers Chocolate) as well as Winston, Camel and Salem cigarettes. In October 1988, Johnson proposed a $17 billion ($75 per share) management buyout of the company with the financial backing of investment bank Shearson Lehman Hutton and its parent company, American Express.^[34][35]

Days later, Kravis, who had originally suggested the idea of the buyout to Johnson, presented a new bid for $20.3 billion ($90 per share) financed with an aggressive debt package.^[36][37][38] KKR also had the support of significant equity co-investments from leading pension funds and other institutional investors. Among KKR's investors included, the Coca-Cola, Georgia-Pacific and United Technologies corporate pension funds as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology endowment, the Harvard University endowment and the New York State Common Retirement Fund^[10] However, KKR also faced criticism from existing investors over the firm's use of hostile tactics in the buyout of RJR.^[39]

KKR proposed to provide a joint offer with Johnson and Shearson Lehman but was rebuffed and Johnson attempted to stonewall KKR's access to financial information from RJR.^{[40][41][42][43]} Rival private equity firm, Forstmann Little & Co. was invited into the process by Shearson Lehman but attempted to provide a bid for RJR with a consortium of Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Procter & Gamble, Ralston Purina and Castle & Cooke.^[44] Ultimately the Forstmann consortium came apart and did not provide a final bid for RJR.^[45] Many of the major banking players of the day, including Shearson Lehman Hutton, Drexel Burnham Lambert, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Salomon Brothers and Merrill Lynch were actively involved in advising and financing the parties.

Oreo cookies, one of RJR Nabisco's products

In November 1988, RJR set guidelines for a final bid submission at the end of the month.^[46] The management and Shearson group submitted a final bid of $112, a figure they felt certain would enable them to outflank any response by Kravis and KKR. KKR's final bid of $109, while a lower dollar figure, was ultimately accepted by the board of directors of RJR Nabisco.^[47] KKR's offer was guaranteed, whereas the management offer lacked a "reset", meaning that the final share price might have been lower than their stated $112 per share.^[48] Additionally, many in RJR's board of directors had grown concerned at recent disclosures of Ross Johnson' unprecedented golden parachute deal.^[49][50] TIME magazine featured Ross Johnson on the cover of their December 1988 issue along with the headline, "A Game of Greed: This man could pocket $100 million from the largest corporate takeover in history. Has the buyout craze gone too far?".^[51] KKR's offer was welcomed by the board, and, to some observers, it appeared that their elevation of the reset issue as a deal-breaker in KKR's favor was little more than an excuse to reject Ross Johnson's higher payout of $112 per share. F. Ross Johnson received $53 million from the buyout.^[52] KKR collected a $75 million fee in the RJR takeover.^[53]

At $31.1 billion of transaction value (including assumed debt), RJR Nabisco was by far the largest leveraged buyout in history.^[54] In 2006 and 2007, a number of leveraged buyout transactions were completed that for the first time surpassed the RJR Nabisco leveraged buyout in terms of nominal purchase price. The deal was first surpassed in July 2006 by the $33 billion buyout of U.S. hospital operator Hospital Corporation of America, in which KKR also participated, though the RJR deal was larger, adjusted for inflation. However, adjusted for inflation, none of the leveraged buyouts of the 2006–2007 period would surpass RJR Nabisco. The RJR transaction benefited many of the parties involved. Investment bankers and lawyers who advised KKR walked away with over $1 billion in fees, and Henry Kravis and George Roberts attracted unprecedented amount of publicity that turned the cousins into instant celebrities. Unfortunately for KKR, size would not equate with success as the high purchase price and debt load would burden the performance of the investment. KKR was able to overcome the RJR Nabisco investment, raising a new investment fund and continuing to invest throughout the 1990s.^[55]

Early 1990s: The aftermath of RJR Nabisco[link]

KKR's headquarters in the Solow Building at 9 West 57th Street in New York City

The buyout of RJR Nabisco was completed in April 1989 and KKR would spend the early 1990s focused on the task of repaying the RJR's enormous debt load through a series of asset sales and restructuring transactions.^[56][57][58] After the RJR Nabisco deal, KKR did not complete a single investment in 1990, the first year with no new investment activity since 1982. In fact, KKR did not complete another major leveraged buyout transaction for over three years, due largely to the shutdown of the high yield bond market and the collapse of Drexel Burnham Lambert which filed for bankruptcy in February 1990. Instead, KKR focused primarily on its existing portfolio companies acquired in the late 1980s buyout boom. Six of KKR's portfolio companies completed IPOs in 1991, including RJR Nabisco and Duracell.^[4]

As the new decade began, KKR was immediately active in restructuring RJR. In January 1990, KKR completed the sale of RJR's Del Monte fruits and vegetables business to a group led by Merrill Lynch. KKR had originally identified a group of divisions that it could sell to reduce debt.^[59] Over the coming years, RJR would pursue a number of additional restructurings, equity injections and public offerings of stock to provide the company with additional financial flexibility. KKR contributed $1.7 billion of new equity into RJR in July 1990 to complete a restructuring of the company's balance sheet that appeased unhappy bondholders. KKR's equity contribution as part of the original leveraged buyout of RJR had been only $1.5 billion.^[60][61] Later, in December 1990, RJR announced an exchange offer that would swap debt in RJR for a new public stock in the company, effectively an unusual means of taking RJR public again and simultaneously reducing debt on the company.^[62] RJR issued additional stock to the public in March 1991 to further reduce debt, resulting in an upgrade of the credit rating of RJR's debt from junk to investment grade.

KKR would begin to reduce its ownership in RJR, when in 1994, its stock in RJR was used as part of the consideration for its leveraged buyout of Borden, Inc., a producer of food and beverage products, consumer products, and industrial products, in a highly complex and unprecedented transaction.^{[63][64][65][66]} The following year, in 1995, KKR would divest itself of its final stake in RJR Nabisco when Borden sold a $638 million block of stock.^[67]

While KKR no longer had any ownership of RJR Nabisco by 1995, its original investment would not be fully realized until KKR finally exited the last of its investment in 2004. After sixteen years of efforts that included contributing new equity, taking RJR public, asset sales and exchanging shares of RJR for the ownership of Borden, Inc., KKR had finally sold the last remnants of its 1989 investment. In July 2004, KKR agreed to sell its stock in Borden Chemical to Apollo Management for $1.2 billion.^[68]

Early 1990s: Investments[link]

In the early 1990s, the absence of an active high yield market prompted KKR to change its tactics, avoiding large leveraged buyouts in favor of industry consolidations through what were described as leveraged buildups or rollups. One of KKR's largest investments in the 1990s was the leveraged buildup of Primedia in partnership with former executives of Macmillan Publishing, which KKR had failed to acquire in 1988.^[69] KKR created Primedia's predecessor, K-III Communications,^[70] a platform to buy media properties, initially completing the $310 million divisional buyout of the book club division of Macmillan Publishing (publisher of The Weekly Reader) and the assets of magazine publisher Intertec Publishing Corporation in May 1989.^[71][72] Throughout the early 1990s, K-III continued to acquire publishing assets, including a $650 million acquisition from News Corporation in 1991.^[73] K-III went public, however instead of cashing out, KKR continued to make new investments in the company in 1998, 2000 and 2001 to support acquisition activity.^[74] Ultimately, in 2005, Primedia redeemed KKR's preferred stock in the company but KKR was estimated to have lost hundreds of millions of dollars on its common stock holdings as the price of the company's stock collapsed.^[72]

In 1991, KKR partnered with Fleet/Norstar Financial Group in the 1991 acquisition of the Bank of New England, from the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.^[75] In January 1996, KKR would exchange its investment for a 7.5% interest in Fleet Bank.^[76] KKR also completed the 1992 buyout of American Re Corporation from Aetna^[77] as well as a 47% interest in TW Corporation, later known as The Flagstar Companies and owner of Denny's in 1992.^[78] Among the other notable investments KKR completed during the early 1990s included World Color Press (1993–95),^[79] RELTEC Corporation (1995) and Bruno's (1995).^[80]

1996–1999[link]

By the mid 1990s, the debt markets were improving and KKR had moved on from the RJR Nabisco buyout. In 1996, KKR was able to complete the bulk of fundraising for what was then a record $6 billion private equity fund, the KKR 1996 Fund.^[81] However, KKR was still burdened by the performance of the RJR investment and repeated obituaries in the media.^[82] KKR was required by its investors to reduce the fees it charged and to calculate its carried interest based on the total profit of the fund (i.e., offsetting losses from failed deals against the profits from successful deals).^[4]

KKR acquired Regal Cinemas in 1998, only to see the company in bankruptcy by 2000

KKR's activity level would accelerate over the second half of the 1990s making a series of notable investments including Spalding Holdings Corporation and Evenflo(1996),^[83] Newsquest (1996),^[84] KinderCare Learning Centers (1997),^[85] Amphenol Corporation (1997),^[86] Randalls Food Markets (1997),^[87] The Boyds Collection (1998),^[88] MedCath Corporation (1998),^[89] Willis Group Holdings (1998),^[90] Smiths Group (1999) and Wincor Nixdorf (1999).^[91]

KKR's largest investment of the 1990s, would unfortunately also be among its least successful. In January 1998, KKR and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst agreed to the $1.5 billion buyout of Regal Cinemas.^[92] KKR and Hicks Muse had initially intended to combine Regal with Act III Cinemas, which KKR had acquired in 1997 for $706 million^[93] and United Artists Theaters, which Hicks Muse had agreed to acquire for $840 million in November 1997. Shortly after agreeing to the Regal takeover, the deal with United Artists fell apart, ultimately impacting the strategy to eliminate costs by building a larger combined company.^[94] Just two years later, Regal encountered significant financial issues and was forced to file for bankruptcy protection and the company would pass to investor Philip Anschutz.^[95]

2000–2005[link]

Shoppers Drug Mart, the Canadian pharmacy was one of several successful buyouts in the early 2000s^[96]

At the start of the 21st century, the landscape of large leveraged buyout firms was changing. Several large and storied firms, including Hicks Muse Tate & Furst and Forstmann Little & Company were dragged down by heavy losses in the bursting of the telecom bubble. Although, KKR's track record since RJR Nabisco was mixed, losses on such investments as Regal Entertainment Group, Spalding, Flagstar and Primedia (previously K-III Communications) were offset by successes in Willis Group, Wise Foods, Inc., Wincor Nixdorf and MTU Aero Engines, among others.^[4]

Additionally, KKR was one of the few firms that was able to complete large leveraged buyout transactions in the years immediately following the collapse of the Internet bubble, including Shoppers Drug Mart and Bell Canada Yellow Pages.^[4][97] KKR was able to realize its investment in Shoppers Drug Mart through a 2002 IPO and subsequent public stock offerings.^[96] The directories business would ultimately be taken public in 2004 as Yellow Pages Income Fund, a Canadian income trust.^[98]

KKR led a consortium in the buyout of Toys "R" Us in 2004

In 2004 a consortium comprising KKR, Bain Capital and real estate development company Vornado Realty Trust announced the $6.6 billion acquisition of Toys "R" Us, the toy retailer. A month earlier, Cerberus Capital Management, made a $5.5 billion offer for both the toy and baby supplies businesses.^[99] The Toys 'R' Us buyout was one of the largest in several years.^[100] Following this transaction, by the end of 2004 and in 2005, major buyouts were once again becoming common and market observers were stunned by the leverage levels and financing terms obtained by financial sponsors in their buyouts.^[101]

The following year, in 2005, KKR was one of seven private equity firms involved in the buyout of SunGard in a transaction valued at $11.3 billion. KKR's partners in the acquisition were Silver Lake Partners, Bain Capital, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, The Blackstone Group, Providence Equity Partners, and Texas Pacific Group. This represented the largest leveraged buyout completed since the takeover of RJR Nabisco in 1988. SunGard was the largest buyout of a technology company until the Blackstone-led buyout of Freescale Semiconductor. The SunGard transaction is also notable in the number of firms involved in the transaction, the largest club deal completed to that point. The involvement of seven firms in the consortium was criticized by investors in private equity who considered cross-holdings among firms to be generally unattractive.^[102][103]

Since 2005 and the Buyout Boom[link]

In 2006, KKR raised a new $17.6 billion fund the KKR 2006 Fund, with which the firm began executing a series of some of the largest buyouts in history. KKR's $44 billion takeover of Texas-based power utility, TXU, in 2007, proved to be the largest leveraged buyout of the mid-2000s buyout boom and the largest buyout completed to date.^[104] Among the most notable companies acquired by KKR in 2006 and 2007 were the following:

Other non-buyout investments completed by KKR during this period included Legg Mason, Sun Microsystems, Tarkett and Seven Network. In October 2006, KKR acquired a 50% stake in Tarkett, a France-based distributor of flooring products, in a deal valued at about €1.4 billion ($1.8 billion). On November 20, 2006 KKR announced it would form a AU$4 billion partnership with the Seven Network of Australia.^[119] On January 23, 2007, KKR announced it would invest $700 million through a PIPE investment in Sun Microsystems.^[120] In January 2008, KKR announced that it had made a $1.25 billion PIPE investment in Legg Mason through a convertible preferred stock offering.^[121]

In addition to its successful buyout transactions, KKR was involved in the failed buyout of Harman International Industries (NYSE: HAR), an upscale audio equipment maker. On April 26, 2007, Harman announced it had entered an agreement to be acquired by KKR and Goldman Sachs.^[122] As the financing markets became more adverse in the summer of 2007, the buyout was on tenuous ground. In September 2007, KKR and Goldman backed out of the $8 billion buyout of Harman. By the end of the day, Harman's shares had plummeted by more than 24% on the news.^[123]

Selected Kohlberg Kravis Roberts 2006-2008 Investments

Hospital Corporation of America   NXP Semiconductors   Dollar General   Alliance Boots   TXU   Sun Microsystems   Legg Mason

Initial public offering[link]

In 2007, KKR filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission^[3] to raise $1.25 billion by selling an ownership interest in its management company.^[124] The filing came less than two weeks after the initial public offering of rival private equity firm Blackstone Group. KKR had previously listed its KPE vehicle in 2006, but for the first time, KKR would offer investors an ownership interest in the management company itself. The onset of the credit crunch and the shutdown of the IPO market dampened the prospects of obtaining a valuation that would be attractive to KKR and the flotation was repeatedly postponed, and finally called off by the end of August.^[125]

The following year, in July 2008, KKR announced a new plan to list its shares. The plan called for KKR to complete a reverse takeover of its listed affiliate KKR Private Equity Investors in exchange for a 21% interest in the firm.^[126] In November 2008, KKR announced a delay of this transaction until 2009. Shares of KPE had declined significantly in the second half of 2008 with the onset of the credit crunch. KKR has announced that it expects to close the transaction in 2009.^[127] In October 2009, KKR listed shares in KKR & Co. on the Euronext exchange, replacing KPE and anticipates a listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 2010. The public entity represents a 30% interest in Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.^[128] In October 2010, KKR acquired bout nine members of Goldman Sachs Group proprietary trading team after entertaining offers from investment firms such as Perella Weinberg and Blackrock. With Goldman shutting down its proprietary trading operations, its executives, led by Bob Howard, will help KKR expand beyond leveraged buyouts into areas such as hedge funds.

Notable current and former employees[link]

Over the years, KKR has seen the departure of many of its original partners, the most notable being the most senior of its three co-founders, Jerome Kohlberg. After a leave of absence due to an illness in 1985, Kohlberg returned to find increasing differences in strategy with his partners Kravis and Roberts.^[129] In 1987, Kohlberg left KKR to found a new private equity firm Kohlberg & Company. Kohlberg & Company returned to the investment style that Kohlberg had originally practiced at Bear Stearns and in KKR's earlier years, acquiring smaller, middle-market companies.^{[4][130][131]}

As of 1996, general partners of KKR included Henry Kravis, George R. Roberts, Paul Raether, Robert MacDonnell, Jose Gandarillas, Michael Michelson, Saul Fox, James Greene, Michael Tokarz, Clifton Robbins, Scott Stuart, Perry Golkin and Edward Gilhuly.^[132] Among those who left were Saul Fox, Ted Ammon, Ned Gilhuly, Mike Tokarz and Scott Stuart who were instrumental in establishing KKR's reputation and track record in the 1980s.^[133] KKR remains tightly controlled by Kravis and Roberts. The issue of succession has remained an important consideration for KKR's future as an ongoing institutionalized firm.^[134]

• Saul A. Fox left KKR in 1997 to found Fox Paine & Company, a middle market private equity firm with over $1.5 billion of capital under management^[135][136]
• Clifton S. Robbins left KKR to join competitor General Atlantic Partners in 2000 and later founded Blue Harbour Group,^[137] a private investment firm based in Greenwich, CT.^[138]
• Edward A. (Ned) Gilhuly and Scott Stuart left KKR in 2004 to launch Sageview Capital. Prior to this, Gilhuly was the managing partner of KKR's European operations, based in London and Stuart managed KKR's energy and consumer products industry groups.^[138]
• Ted Ammon, started several new ventures including Big Flower Press, which printed newspaper circulars, and Chancery Lane Capital, a boutique private equity firm, before being murdered in October 2001.^{[138][139][140][141]}
• Paul Hazen, served as chairman and CEO of Wells Fargo (1995–2001).^[142] Hazen would later return to KKR serving as chairman of Accel-KKR, a joint venture with Accel Partners and later as chairman of KKR's publicly listed affiliate, KKR Financial (KFN).
• Clive Hollick, Baron Hollick, CEO of United News and Media (1996–2005)

Works about KKR[link]

See also[link]

• Accel-KKR - a technology-focused private equity firm formed as a joint venture between KKR and venture capital firm Accel Partners
• Jerome Kohlberg
• Henry Kravis
• George R. Roberts

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• KKR official website
• Yahoo! - Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. company profile

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Shahrukh Khan
Shahrukh Khan at TAG Heuer Press Conference.
Born	(1965-11-02) 2 November 1965 (age 46) New Delhi, India
Residence	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India[1]
Other names	King Khan, SRK, King of Bollywood, The Baadshah of Bollywood[2]
Occupation	Actor, producer, television presenter
Years active	1988—present
Spouse	Gauri Khan (1991—present)
Children	2

Shahrukh Khan (pronounced [‘ʃaːɦrəx ˈxaːn]; born 2 November 1965), often credited as Shah Rukh Khan and informally referred to as SRK, is an Indian film actor. Known as "The King of Bollywood", Khan has acted in over 70 Hindi films.^[3][4][5] He has won fourteen Filmfare Awards from thirty nominations for his work in Indian films and shares the record for the highest number of Best Actor awards with Dilip Kumar, eight wins. In 2005, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri for his contributions towards Indian cinema.

After graduating with a Bachelor's degree in economics, he started his career appearing in theatre and several television serials in the late 1980s and later made his Hindi film debut in 1992 with Deewana. Early in his career he was recognised for his unconventional choice of negative roles in films such as Darr (1993), Baazigar (1993) and Anjaam (1994). Since then he has played leading roles in a wide variety of film genres, including romantic films, comedies, thrillers, action films, sport films, and historical dramas among others.

Eleven of the films he has acted in have accumulated gross earnings of over 1 billion (US$19.95 million).^[6] Khan's films such as Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Devdas (2002), Chak De! India (2007), Om Shanti Om (2007), Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008), and Ra.One (2011) remain some of Bollywood's biggest hits, while films like Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001), Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), Veer-Zaara (2004), Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), My Name Is Khan (2010), and Don 2 (2011) have been top-grossing Indian productions in the overseas markets thus making him one of the most successful leading actors of Hindi cinema.^[7]

In addition to movie acting, Khan is a television presenter, a regular stage performer, and a social activist. He is the founder/owner of two production companies: Dreamz Unlimited and Red Chillies Entertainment and, along with actress Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta, the owner of the Indian Premier League cricket team Kolkata Knight Riders. Khan is considered to be one of the biggest movie stars in history, with a fan following claimed to number in the billions.^[3][8] He has an estimated net worth of over 25 billion (US$540 million).^[9][10] In 2008, Newsweek named Khan one of the 50 most powerful people in the world.^[3]

Early life and background[link]

Khan was born on 2 November 1965 to Muslim parents of Pathan descent in New Delhi, India.^[11][12] His father, Taj Mohammed Khan, was an Indian independence activist from Peshawar, British India. According to Khan, his paternal grandfather was originally from Afghanistan.^[13] His mother, Lateef Fatima, was the adopted daughter of Major General Shah Nawaz Khan of the Janjua Rajput clan, who served in the Indian National Army.^[14] Khan's father came to New Delhi from Qissa Khawani Bazaar in Peshawar before the partition of India,^[15] Ethnically, he describes himself as being half-Pathan through his father and half-Hyderabadi through his mother, with his paternal grandmother being Kashmiri.^[16] His father died from cancer when Khan was 15 years old, and his mother died in 1990 after prolonged illness.^[17][18] Khan was very attached to his parents as a child and describes their early deaths as a turning point in his life and as his biggest motivation for hard work. Khan explained his ideology in life was "... to make movies so damn bloody big...that my parents somewhere sit down on a star and from there also can look at their son and say 'I can see his movies from here better than I can see the Wall of China or anything. We see his movies covering the face of this earth'."^[19] Khan has an elder sister named Shehnaz.^[20]

Growing up in Rajendra Nagar neighbourhood of Delhi,^[21] Khan attended St. Columba's School where he was accomplished in sports, drama, and academics. He won the Sword of Honour, an annual award given to the student who best represents the spirit of the school. Khan later attended the Hansraj College (1985–1988) and earned his Bachelors degree in Economics. When Hansraj College celebrated its 50th anniversary, it gave away 17 shields to its alumni who had excelled in their lives and professions. Khan was one of them. Though he pursued a Masters Degree in Mass Communications at Jamia Millia Islamia, he later opted out to pursue a career in Bollywood.^[22] He also attended the National School of Drama in Delhi.^[23]

After the death of his mother, Khan moved to Mumbai in 1991.^[24] He married Gauri Chibber, a Hindu, in a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony on 25 October 1991.^[17] They have two children, son Aryan (b. 1997) and daughter Suhana (b. 2000). According to Khan, while he strongly believes in Allah, he also values his wife's religion. At home, his children follow both religions, with the Qur'an being situated next to the Hindu deities.^[25]

Khan studied acting under celebrated theatre director Barry John at Delhi's "Theatre Action Group" (TAG). In 2007, John commented on his former pupil, "The credit for the phenomenally successful development and management of Shahrukh's career goes to the superstar himself."^[26] Khan started shooting for Lekh Tandon's television series Dil Dariya, but its delay meant that he made his acting debut with the 1988 television series, Fauji, playing the leading role of Commando Abhimanyu Rai.^[24][27] He went on to appear in other television serials, such as Aziz Mirza's Circus in 1989, which depicted the life of circus performers.^[28] The same year, Khan also had a minor role in the made-for-television English-language film, In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones, which was based on life at Delhi University, written by Arundhati Roy. When he appeared in those teleserials, people found in him some resemblance with actor Dilip Kumar and also compared his acting style with the latter's.^[29]

Acting career[link]

1990s[link]

Khan received his first break upon moving from New Delhi to Mumbai when Hema Malini offered him a role in her directorial debut Dil Aashna Hai.^[24] However, the delay in the release of the film meant that his first release was Deewana opposite Rishi Kapoor and Divya Bharti.^[23][30] The movie became a box office hit, and launched his career in Bollywood.^[31] His performance won him a Filmfare Best Male Debut Award. In a 2001 interview with Rediff, Khan recalled: "Actually, June 26 marks exactly 11 years since I faced the cameras for my first shot for Dil Aashna Hai, in 1990. I knew it would be a tough field, a very demanding profession."^[23] He went on to star in Maya Memsaab, which generated some controversy because of his appearance in an "explicit" sex scene in the movie.^[32]

In 1993, Khan won acclaim for his performances in villainous roles as an obsessive lover and a murderer, respectively, in the box office hits, Darr and Baazigar.^[33] In Khan's entry in Encyclopædia Britannica's "Encyclopedia of Hindi Cinema" it was stated that "he defied the image of the conventional hero in both these films and created his own version of the revisionist hero."^[34] Darr marked his first collaboration with renowned film-maker Yash Chopra and his banner Yash Raj Films, the largest production company in Bollywood. Khan's scene in the film, in which he makes obsessive phone calls to Chawla's character stammering "i love you, kkkiran," attained great popularity.^[35] Baazigar, which saw Khan portraying an ambiguous avenger who murders his girlfriend, shocked its Indian audience with an unexpected violation of the standard Bollywood formula.^[36] His performance won him his first Filmfare Best Actor Award. In that same year, Khan played the role of a young musician in Kundan Shah's Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, a performance that earned him a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance. In a 2004 retrospective review by Rediff, Sukanya Verma called it Khan's best performance and added:"He was spontaneous, vulnerable, boyish, mischievous and acting straight from the heart."^[37] Khan maintains that this is his all-time favourite among the movies he has acted in.^[38] In 1994, Khan once again played an obsessive lover/psycho's role in Anjaam, co-starring alongside Madhuri Dixit. Though the movie was not a box office success, Khan's performance earned him the Filmfare Best Villain Award.^[39]

In 1995, Khan starred in the two biggest hits of the year in India. His first release was Rakesh Roshan's Karan Arjun, Khan was part of an ensemble cast including Salman Khan, Kajol, Mamta Kulkarni, Raakhee and Amrish Puri. The film, which dealt with reincarnation, became the second-highest grossing film of the year in India.^[40] He followed it with Aditya Chopra's directorial debut, the romance Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. A major critical and commercial success, the movie became the year's top-grossing production in India and abroad.^[41] The film was declared an all time blockbuster and it remains the longest-running film in the history of Indian cinema. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge grossed over 1.2 billion. The film won ten Filmfare Awards, and Khan's performance as a young NRI who falls for Kajol's character while on a college vacation won him much critical acclaim and his second Best Actor Award. In 2005, Indiatimes Movies ranked the movie amongst the 25 Must See Bollywood Films, citing it as a "trendsetter of sorts".^[42] In that same year's retrospective review by Rediff, Raja Sen stated, "Khan gives a fabulous performance, redefining the Lover for the 1990s with great panache. He's cool and flippant, but sincere enough to appeal to the junta. The performance itself is, like the best in the business, played well enough to come across as effortless, as non-acting."^[43]

1996 proved a disappointing year for Khan, he appeared in two films—English Babu Desi Mem and Mahesh Bhatt' Chaahat both of which proved critically and commercially unsuccessful in India.^[44] This was, however, followed by a comeback in 1997. He saw success with Subhash Ghai's social drama Pardes opposite newcomer Mahima Chaudhry. The film brought to light the culture shock and difficulties that may be involved in the cases of young Indian women immigrating to foreign countries after their marriage to Non Resident Indian men. It was one of the biggest hits of the year and earned him a nomination for the Best Actor Award at the Filmfare ceremony. He then appeared in Aziz Mirza's comedy Yes Boss which paired him with Juhi Chawla for the fourth time. The film was a moderately successful feature.^[45] His second project with Yash Chopra as a director, Dil to Pagal Hai became that year's second highest-grossing movie, and he won his third Filmfare Best Actor Award for his role as a stage director who falls in love with one of his new actresses.^[45]

In 1998, Khan starred in Karan Johar's directorial debut, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, which paired him with Kajol and Rani Mukerji. The movie was declared an all time blockbuster, with a worldwide gross of over 1.03 billion.^[46] Khan played the role of Rahul Khanna, a young college student who falls in love with his best friend after the death of his wife, years after breaking contact with her. His performance won him the Best Actor award at the Filmfare Awards for the second consecutive year. He won critical praise for his performance in Mani Ratnam's critically acclaimed Dil Se.., in which he played the part of Amar Varma, an All India Radio correspondent who falls deeply in love with a mysterious woman terrorist, played by Manisha Koirala.^[47] Rediff wrote: "Khan delivers a compelling performance. He plays the part with taut restraint, and expresses exasperation superbly."^[48] The movie failed financially in India, however, it was a commercial success overseas.^[49] becoming the first Indian film to enter the top 10 in the United Kingdom box office charts.^[50][51] Khan's only release in 1999, Baadshah opposite Twinkle Khanna, was an average grosser, for which he earned a Filmfare Award nomination for Best Performance in a Comic Role.^[52]

2000s[link]

Khan's success continued with Aditya Chopra's 2000 film, Mohabbatein, co-starring Amitabh Bachchan. The film was a major financial success, and Khan's performance as a college teacher was acclaimed by critics; Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama wrote that he "is outstanding as Raj Aryan." He was awarded his second Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for the role. He also starred in Mansoor Khan's action film Josh. The film starred Khan as the tough leader of a Christian gang in Goa and Aishwarya Rai as his twin sister, and was also a box office success.^[53] In a positive review, Vinayak Chakravorty of Hindustan Times wrote that Khan "basks in his tailormade role, donning with panache the garb of a streetsmart tough."^[54] He further played the role of an archaeologist Muslim beaten to death by Hindu fanatics during the unrest following the partition of India in Hey Ram. Directed by and co-starring Kamal Hassan, the film was critically acclaimed and was selected as India's entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars that year.^[55] Khan also dubbed his own voice in Tamil for the film.^[56] In that same year, Khan set up his own production house, Dreamz Unlimited with Juhi Chawla and director Aziz Mirza (see below). The three collaborated on the first film of their production house, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani.^[53]

In 2001, His collaboration with Karan Johar continued with the family drama Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham in which he featured as part of an ensemble cast that included Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor, Kajol and Hrithik Roshan. the movie was a major financial success and became India's second highest-grossing film of the year and one of the biggest Bollywood success of all time in the overseas market, earning over 1,000 million (US$19.95 million) worldwide.^[57] Khan's portrayal of Rahul Raichand, an adopted young man who's disowned by his rich and powerful father, played by Bachchan, for marrying a middle-class girl Anjali, played by Kajol was well received by critics. Taran Adarsh commented, "Khan sparkles yet again", noting that he performed the part "with amazing poise, class, honesty and maturity".^[58] It garnered him a nomination for the Filmfare Best Actor Award. This was his last collaboration with Kajol until they would be cast again by Johar as a lead pair in early 2010.

The same year, Khan essayed the role of Emperor Asoka in Santosh Sivan's historical epic, Asoka, a partly fictionalised account of the life of Ashoka the Great.^[59] It was widely screened across the United Kingdom and North America, and was also selected for screening at the Venice Film Festival and the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival, where it got positive response.^[60] While promoting the film in New York City, Khan along with the film director, Sivan were stuck in the city due to the 11 September terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.^[60] The film received generally positive reviews and Khan received favourable reactions for his performance, Rediff concluded that "He puts in a strong performance, in this well defined role."^[61]

Khan during the filming of Swades (2004), his performance in the film is considered one of his best to date and earned him another Filmfare Best Actor Award.

In 2002, Khan played the title role in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's award-winning period romance, Devdas which was the most expensive Bollywood film ever made at the time.^[62] This was the third Hindi movie adaptation of Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay's well-known novel of the same name. Featured opposite Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit, Khan's performance as a rebellious alcoholic is often considered one of his best performances, and won him a Filmfare Best Actor Award. The film surfaced as the highest-grossing film of the year in India and overseas, earning a revenue of 39 million (US$778,050) domestically.^[63][64] Devdas won numerous awards, including 10 Filmfare Awards and received a special screening at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.^[65][66] It received a BAFTA nomination for Best Foreign Language Film as well and was India's entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. After the release of the film, Khan took a six months break from acting, he explained that during that period he "Just enjoyed the feeling of being sad". In an interview with Rediff, Khan commented: "For an entire year, that is what I did. I was sad. " and added, "We stars live in this bubble where everyone is smiling at you, where everyone loves you. Somehow, you lose touch with real, deep down sadness. Working on this film put us in touch with that emotion."^[23] Khan also starred opposite Madhuri Dixit and Salman Khan in the family-drama Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam. The film took six years to make, with huge sabbaticals in between shoots due to unending production problems,^[67] and was an average grosser at the box office.^[63]

In 2003, Khan starred in Aziz Mirza's romantic drama, Chalte Chalte opposite Rani Mukerji. The film was moderately successful in India but fared much better in the overseas.^[68][69] Khan played the role of Raj Mathur, a middle class man who falls in love and marries Priya Chopra, a successful fashion designer whose family is quite wealthy. But after the marriage, differences arise between the couple, leading to an irreversible separation. Manish Gajjar of BBC mentioned that he is "a sheer natural which explains why he is a great asset to Bollywood." Several critics were not as positive, including Vivek Fernandes from Rediff, who noted: "Shah Rukh hams and haws his way through the film – biting his lip, crinkling his eyebrows – it is oh-so-familiar. He is over the top, especially as the inebriated Raj who confronts the estranged wife."^[70]

That same year, he starred in Kal Ho Naa Ho a drama set in New York City, written by Karan Johar and directed by Nikhil Advani co-starring Jaya Bachchan, Preity Zinta and Saif Ali Khan. Khan's performance as a man with a fatal heart disease was met with positive response from critics. The Hindu noted, "His enthusiasm unbounded, his energy unbridled, Shah Rukh is in form here. And as a guy with a few days to live and a life to spend in a moment, he looks for your sympathy. He reduces many to tears. And with each tear he rises a rank higher in the echelons of actors".^[71] while rediff concluded, "Shah Rukh excels as the supercool Aman (...) He steals the show with a designer-made role."^[72] The film was a critical and commercial success, becoming the second top-grossing movie domestically and the top-grossing Bollywood film in the overseas market that year.^[68] When adjusted for inflation its total gross worldwide is 1.3 billion.^[73] The film earned him another Filmfare Best Actor Award nomination.

2004 was a particularly good year for Khan, both commercially and critically. He produced and starred in Farah Khan's directorial debut, the action comedy Main Hoon Na. The movie did well at the box office. He then played the role of an Indian officer, Veer Pratap Singh in Yash Chopra's love saga Veer-Zaara, which was the biggest hit of 2004 in both India and overseas, with a worldwide gross of over 960 million.^[57][74] It was also screened at the Berlin Film Festival.^[75] The film relates the love story of Veer and a Pakistani woman Zaara Haayat Khan, played by Preity Zinta. Khan's performance in the film was praised by critics and won him awards at several award ceremonies. Rama Sharma from The Tribune wrote:"Shah Rukh Khan here scales the heights of sensitivity, rising above the mundane. His expressions are mature and reach out to touch the heart of the common man. As a prisoner lodged in a Pakistani jail, he breathes life into the story. His trauma becomes a saga and speaks about the untold sufferings of innocent prisoners."^[76]

In that same year, he received critical acclaim for his performance in Ashutosh Gowariker's drama Swades which most of the critics deemed as one of his best performance till date.^[77] Jitesh Pillai said of his role, "Ultimately your heart leaps out to the magical Shah Rukh Khan, who unarguably gives his career's finest performance. Shorn of any artifice or nervous energy, his anguish is tangible. He inhabits Mohan Bharghava with consummate ease, you can feel the earnestness of his intentions, the wetness of his tears".^[78] His performance was later included in the 2010 issue of the "Top 80 Iconic Performances" by Filmfare.^[79] He was nominated for the Filmfare Best Actor Award for all three of his releases in 2004, winning it for Swades.^[74] The film itself was featured on Rediff's list of the 10 Best Bollywood Movies of the Decade.^[80]

His only release in 2005, Paheli opposite Rani Mukerji, was screened at the Sundance Film Festival and was chosen as India’s official entry to the Oscars for the 79th Academy Awards.^[81] The film was critically acclaimed, as was Khan's performance, which Raja Sen called " A top-notch performance, [That] justifies his supremacy in the film world".^[82] In 2006, Khan collaborated with Karan Johar for the third time with the melodrama Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, with an ensemble cast including Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Abhishek Bachchan, Rani Mukerji and Kirron Kher. The film told the story of two unhappily married couples in New York, which later results in an extramarital affair. Khan played the role of Dev Saran, a bitter and cynical former football player who is jealous of his wife Rhea's successful career as a fashion magazine editor, played by Zinta. The film opened to mixed reviews but emerged as a major commercial success; becoming the biggest Bollywood hit in the overseas market of all-time. It grossed over 1.13 billion worldwide^[57][83]

His second release that year saw him playing the title role in the action film Don, a remake of the 1978 hit film of the same name. He played the character of Don, a role which was played by Amitabh Bachchan in the original movie. While the film was generally well received, Khan's performance received mixed critical reactions. His performance was extensively compared to that of Bachchan. Taran Adarsh noted that Khan "carries a massive responsibility on his shoulders since direct comparisons with Bachchan are foreseeable" adding that "He does very well as Don. He enacts the evil character with flourish. But he fails to carry off the other role [Vijay] with conviction. It looks made up, it doesn't come natural to him at all."^[84] While Derek Elley of Variety argued that "it's hard to accept him (Khan) as the title character" and that "Khan is far more convincing as Vijay, playing up to his rom-com fanbase with plenty of boyish humor."^[85] The film became the fifth-highest grossing film of the year in India.^[83] and the highest grossing film of the year in the overseas market. It grossed a total of 1.04 billion worldwide.^[57] Both the films earned him Filmfare Best Actor Award nominations while his role as Don earned him a nomination for the Asian Film Awards.

Khan's success continued with a few more highly popular films. One of his most successful works was the multiple award-winning 2007 film, Chak De! India, about the Indian women's national hockey team. The film was a major critical and commercial success in India and abroad.^[86] Earning over 1.03 billion worldwide.^[57] Chak De! India became the third-highest grossing movie of 2007 in India and won yet another Filmfare Award for Best Actor for Khan. Rajeev Masand from CNN-IBN wrote about his performance, "For the first time since Swades, Shah Rukh plays a role without any of his typical trappings, without any of his trademark quirks. He sinks his teeth into the part of the determined coach and comes up with such a terrific performance. He's hopeful at times and despondent at others, he's humorous at times, and stern at others. He plays Kabir Khan like a real flesh-and-blood human being."^[87] Filmfare also included his performance in the 2010 issue of the "Top 80 Iconic Performances" and commented:

In the same year Khan also starred in Farah Khan's 2007 film, Om Shanti Om. A re-incarnation melodrama. Khan essayed the role of Om Prakash Makhija, a junior artiste from the 70s who is reborn thirty years later as a superstar named Om Kapoor, he then attempts to discover the mystery of his demise and avenge the death of his lost love. His performance was generally well received by critics; Khalid Mohammed from Hindustan Times wrote, "Above all the enterprise belongs to Shah Rukh Khan, who tackles comedy, high drama and action with his signature style – spontaneous and intuitively intelligent."^[89] The film emerged as the year's highest grossing film in India and the overseas market, and became India's highest grossing production ever up to that point with a worldwide gross of over 1.48 billion.^[90] It earned him another nomination for Best Actor at the Filmfare ceremony.

In 2008, Khan collaborated with Aditya Chopra for the third time with the romantic drama Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi opposite newcomer Anushka Sharma where he played a double role, one of Surinder Sahni, a shy self-described geek who works for Punjab Power in Amritsar whose love for beautiful, vivacious Taani, played by Sharma, causes him to transform himself into the loud and fun-loving Raj to win her love. The film received positive reviews and was declared a blockbuster, and had been concluded as the second-highest grossing film of all-time to that point by the end of the year.^[91] His performance was appreciated by critics. Rachel Saltz of New York Times stated: "The Surinder/Raj dual role seems tailor-made (probably was) for Mr. Khan, who gets to show off his twin talents: he suffers nobly and entertains with panache."^[92] It earned him yet again another nomination for Best Actor at the Filmfare ceremony.

In December of the same year, Khan suffered a serious shoulder injury while filming a special appearance in Mudassar Aziz's Dulha Mil Gaya. He went through extensive physiotherapy sessions while shooting for My Name Is Khan at the time, but due to immense pain that left him almost immobile, he had to undergo an arthroscopic surgery in February 2009 after the shooting schedule for the film in the United States was over.^[93][94]

2010s[link]

Khan's next film was My Name Is Khan, his fourth collaboration with director Karan Johar and the sixth movie in which he is paired with Kajol. Filming commenced in December 2008 in Los Angeles and ended in October 2009. While in Los Angeles, along with his wife Gauri and director Karan Johar, he took a break from filming to attend the 66th Golden Globe Awards, held in Los Angeles, on 11 January 2009,^[95][96] where he was introduced as the King of Bollywood.^[97] Khan introduced Slumdog Millionaire, a movie he had previously turned down, along with a star from the film, Freida Pinto.

Khan with Kajol and Johar while promoting My Name Is Khan.

My Name Is Khan was released on 12 February 2010.^[98] Based on a true story, and set against the backdrop of perceptions on Islam post 11 September attacks, My Name Is Khan stars Khan as Rizwan Khan, a Muslim man suffering from Asperger syndrome who sets out on a journey across America on a mission to meet the country's President and clear his name. Khan admitted that it was a very difficult role to play and that he had to spent several months of research including reading books, watching videos and talking to people affected with the disorder in an effort to get into the skin of the character.^[99] In an interview with Hindustan Times he said, "Whenever you're dealing with a disorder or a near atypical situation, the first thought is that the sort of parameters you have to set that in no which way you are derogatory or deriding the disorder. The second part is you have to come as close to reality in depicting that characterization and so one had to study a lot and one does get worried"^[100] During a promotional visit to the United States, Khan was detained at Newark Airport, New Jersey because of the similarity of his last name to known terrorists.^[101] Upon release, the film received positive reviews from critics and became the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all-time in the overseas market up until then. Khan's performance in the film was appreciated by most critics and earned him his eighth Filmfare Award for Best Actor, thereby joining Dilip Kumar as the record holder in this category. Jay Wesissberg from Variety wrote, "Khan uses the mannerisms associated with Asperger's – averted eyes, springy steps, stuttered repetitions of memorized texts – yet captures the personality beneath the condition in a standout performance sure to receive the Autism Society's gold seal of approval."^[102]

His first release in 2011 was Anubhav Sinha's science fiction superhero film Ra.One opposite Kareena Kapoor. The film, which follows the story of a London-based videogame designer who creates the strongest villain that escaped to the real world was billed as Bollywood's most expensive film.^[103] With an estimated budget of 125 crore (US$24.94 million),^[104] it witnessed massive campaigning and the use of several technology equipments not used in Bollywood before.^[105] The film was a box office success, grossing 2.4 billion worldwide.^[106][107] Khan was involved in other aspects of the making of Ra.One—he volunteered to write the film's console game script, dubbed for it, and oversaw its technical development; he also authored the digital comics based on the film's characters.^[108][109] Upon release, the film which saw Khan playing a double role, received mixed reactions from critics in India and Khan himself received mixed reviews. While most critics praised his performance as the robotic superhero G.one, they panned the one of Shekhar, the videogame designer. Rajeev Masand concluded: "The only real standout performance is by Shah Rukh Khan. His Aiyyo-speaking Shekhar Subramaniam is caricaturish but charming, while as G.One, he gives even his robotic video-game character a charismatic edge." while DNA India added: "Another half attempt comes from the lead actor: Khan is in his element and endearing as superhero G.One, but annoyingly over the top as video game creator Shekhar".^[110][111]

His second release of the year was Don 2, a sequel to his 2006 film Don. The film marked Khan's return to playing villainous characters since his earlier films like Darr and Baazigar.^[112] Khan experimented with a variety of looks, including long unkempt hair and stubble.^[113] He also bulked up for the film by developing a six pack and decided to perform all of his own stunts.^[114][115] His performance fetched him critical praise, Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India noted, "Shah Rukh remains in command and never loses his foothold, neither through the dramatic sequences nor through the action cuts."^[116] The film was a major success in India and it went on to become the year's highest-grossing Bollywood production abroad with a worldwide gross of more than 2.1 billion.^[117][118] It earned him another nomination for Best Actor at the Filmfare ceremony .^[119]

In January 2012, he has started filming for Yash Chopra's Untitled project, opposite Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma.^[120]

Producer[link]

Khan turned producer when he set up a production company called Dreamz Unlimited with Juhi Chawla and director Aziz Mirza in 1999.^[121] The first film he produced and starred in, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (2000), co-starring Chawla herself and directed by Mirza was a critical and commercial failure. The following year, he produced Asoka which was a box office failure.^[59] However, it was well received by critics, and was nominated for the Filmfare Best Movie Award. The film was also selected for screening at the Venice Film Festival and the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival. His third film as a producer and star, Chalte Chalte, proved a box office hit.^[122]

Khan with Kolkata Knight Riders co-owners Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta at the launch of the team's new marketing campaign, February 2012.

In 2004, Khan took over his old production company Dreamz Unlimited and transformed it into Red Chillies Entertainment with his wife Gauri also serving as a producer.^[123] In the same year he produced and starred in Main Hoon Na, another hit, which was directed by his friend and well-known choreographer Farah Khan.^[74] The film earned a nomination for the Filmfare Best Actor Award. The following year, he produced and starred in the fantasy film Paheli, which did poorly.^[124] It was, however, critically acclaimed and was selected as India's official entry to the Academy Awards for consideration for Best Foreign Language Film, but it did not pass the final selection. Also in 2005, Khan co-produced the supernatural horror film Kaal with Karan Johar, and performed an item number for the film with Malaika Arora Khan. Kaal was moderately successful at the box office.^[124]

In 2007, Khan produced Om Shanti Om also directed by Farah Khan. The film was a major commercial success, and was declared India's highest grossing production ever up to that point. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, and went on to win several awards for special effects and Art Direction. It was also nominated for the Filmfare Best Movie Award. His company has further gone on to produce Billu (2009), and Always Kabhi Kabhi (2011). During the filming of My Name Is Khan, Karan Johar producer of the film and head of Dharma Productions, asked Khan to co-produce the film under his production company.^[125] The both will further collaborate in Johar's next directorial venture Student Of The Year.

Since the creation of his company, Khan was keen on making a VFX-loaded film.^[126] The company continued working on other projects and seeking for the right film until they finally decided on Ra.One (2011). The pre-production work began in 2007 after the release of Om Shanti Om.^[126] The film's crew consisted of more than 5,000 members from India, Italy and the US, and was pieced together by more than 1,000 people, working in shifts, in around 15 studios across the world.^[127] It saw the inclusion of several visual effects techniques being incorporated in the production which were carried out by Red Chillies VFX.^[126] With an estimated budget of 125 crore (US$23.75 million), Ra.One was the second-most expensive film ever produced in Indian cinema, and the most expensive Bollywood film^[103][109] The film witnessed a level of publicity campaigning previously unseen in India films, with marketing taking place over a period of nine months and involving major brand tie-ups of a 52 crore (US$9.88 million) which set the record for the largest marketing budget in India.^[128] Khan is also one of the producers of Don 2 (2011), but not through his production company. The movie was a major success in India and abroad.

Apart from film production, the company also has a visual effects studio known as Red Chillies VFX which had been involved with many major movies like Chak De India, Om Shanti Om, Dostana, and Kurbaan. As well as studios for TV commercials known as Red Chillies TVC and TV shows/serials known as Red Chillies Idiot Box, which conceived popular shows like Up Close & Personal with PZ and Ishaan. The company also has a little over 50% stake in the Cricket team Kolkata Knight Riders often abbreviated as KKR, in the BCCI-backed IPL cricket competition.^[129]

Philanthropy[link]

Khan is known for keeping a low profile and secrecy on his social commitments and Humanitarian work.^[130][131] In an interview with The Guardian he stated that his reason for keeping his charity work guarded was because "it's not out of guilt. Somewhere in the Qur'an it says that if you do charity for a reason, it's not charity."^[132] Apart from regular donations to organisations and individuals, especially in the case of AIDS and cancer patients, he is behind the creation of a children's ward at the Nanavati hospital in Mumbai, in memory of his late mother.^[131][133] Khan is also active with relief funds when the Indian nation faces a natural calamity.^[131] He also lent his name to various government campaigns throughout the years, notably those of Pulse Polio immunisation campaign which was established in 1995 to eradicate poliomyelitis in India by vaccinating all children under the age of five years against the polio virus, the National AIDS Control Organisation and the National Rural Health Mission of India which aims to provide accessible, affordable, effective and reliable health care service to the people of India residing in villages.^[134] Khan is a member of the board of directors of Make-A-Wish Foundation in India.^[135]

Khan adopted 12 villages during his visit to The NDTV Greenathon 2012

In March 2004, Khan visited the border post at the Attari-Wagah section of the Indo-Pak border, near Amritsar (the only one where people can cross over to the other side) to boost the morale of the jawans. It was for a TV show called Jai Jawan where entertainers and stars visit Indian troops in far-flung regions to encourage them along with the NDTV team.^[136] In February 2005, Khan performed at the HELP! Telethon Concert to help raise money for the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake in company with other Bollywood stars and also donated 2.5 million for the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Tsunami Relief Fund for the tsunami-affected areas in India.^[137][138] He organised and participated in the Temptations 2005 show in New Delhi which helped to raise funds for the National Centre For Promotional of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), a leading disabled rights group.^[139] In 2007, he collaborated with veteran artist M.F. Husain to create a canvas in celebration of 60 years of Indian independence at a charity auction in Bonhams, London. The painting was sold for over 12 million.^[140]

During his 2009 appearance at the NDTV Greenathon, Khan adopted five villages in Bhitarkanika National Park in Kendrapara, to provide them with electricity under the solar energy harnessing project in its title initiative 'Light A Billion Lives'.^[141] The following year, he adopted eight more villages, and again adopted eleven during his appearance in in the third edition of the event. In the 2012 edition of of the initiative, he again adopted twelve villages.^{[142][143][144]} In 2009, Khan committed to bear all the expenses for the treatment of two Kashmiri orphan children who suffered severe burns during a terrorist grenade attack in Srinagar. He also visited the two orphans at the hospital.^[145]

In 2011, Khan teamed up with Amitabh Bachchan and English actress Judi Dench to promote Resul Pookutty's foundation that works to better the living conditions of the underprivileged in India. The campaign aims to spread awareness on the cause of education among the impoverished, in India and also discourages child labour in the low income bracket of society and focus on providing opportunities to let children have a proper childhood.^[146] the same year, he was honoured with the UNESCO's Pyramide con Marni award for his charity engagements and social commitment towards providing education for kids thus becoming the first Indian to win the accolade.^[147] Later that year, Khan was appointed by The UNOPS to be the first global ambassador of The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council that works to improve the lives of poor people by enhancing collaboration among sector agencies and professionals around sanitation and water supply.^[148] During Ra.One's premiere in Dubai in October 2011, Khan along with co-stars Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal held a high-profile dinner and charity auction, which raised AED 30,000 for building a workshop for children with special needs.^[149]

Non-film work[link]

Television presenting[link]

In 2007, Khan replaced Amitabh Bachchan as the host of the third season of the game show Kaun Banega Crorepati popularly known as KBC, the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.^[150] The previous had hosted the show for two previous seasons in 2000 and 2005. On 22 January 2007, Kaun Banega Crorepati aired with Khan as the new host. The grand prize amount of 2 crore rupees (approx. $430,000 USD) was still used in KBC3.^[151] and later ended on 19 April 2007 with a special finale.^[152] In an interview with The Times Of India, Khan explained that he was offered to host the second season of the show as well but he turned it down because Bachchan wanted to do it then.^[153] For his work at KBC 3, Khan won the best anchor at various awards ceremonies including The Global Indian Film and Television Honours and Indian Telly Awards.

A year later, Khan began hosting the game show Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?, the Indian version of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?,^[154] The show premiered on 25 April 2008 and the last episode was telecast on 27 July 2008 with Lalu Prasad Yadav as the special guest.^[155] On 1 February 2011, he began hosting Zor Ka Jhatka: Total Wipeout, the Indian version of the American game show Wipeout, on Imagine TV. The show ended on 25 February 2011 with Kushal Punjabi as the winner.^[156]

Stage performances[link]

Khan during a performance in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Khan is a stage performer and has participated in several world tours and concerts. In 1997, he preformed in the Asha Bhosle's: Moments In Time in Malaysia. He returned to another concert there the following year with Shahrukh—Karisma: Live in Malaysia concert. In 1999, he was part of The Awesome Foursome, which included Salman Khan, Juhi Chawla and Twinkle Khanna.^[157] In November 2002, Khan took part in the Fire & Flames concert in Malaysia, alongside Rani Mukerji, Saif Ali Khan and BPL-Oye VJ Raageshwari with a 40-member troupe of singers and dancers.^[157] In the same year, he participated in the show From India With Love in the UK, along with Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Preity Zinta and Aishwarya Rai. It took place at two outdoor venues, Manchester's Old Trafford and London's Hyde Park, with over 100,000 spectators.^[158]

Khan participated in a concert tour titled Temptations 2004 which was the most successful Bollywood concert at the time. Khan performed alongside Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukerji, Preity Zinta, Arjun Rampal and Priyanka Chopra in nineteen stage shows across the globe. He sang, danced and performed in skits.^[159] In 2008, Khan set up Temptation Reloaded 2008, a series of concerts showcased across several different countries. The show, which also featured Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Katrina Kaif, Ganesh Hegde, Javed Ali and Anusha Dandekar, took place at the Ahoy Rotterdam venue in Rotterdam, Netherlands.^[160] Several months later, he again joined Kapoor, Rampal and Kaif to perform for 15,000 spectators at Dubai's Festival City Arena.^[161] In 2010, Khan performed alongside Rani Mukerji, Arjun Rampal, Neeraj Shridhar and Ishaa Koppikar for a concert at the Army Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh to a packed audience.^[162] And in 2011, he joined Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra in the Friendship Concert, celebrating 150 years of India-South Africa friendship in Durban, South Africa.^[163]

Ownership of IPL cricket team[link]

In 2008, Khan in partnership with actress Juhi Chawla Mehta and her husband Jay Mehta acquired ownership rights for the franchise representing Kolkata in the Twenty20 cricket tournament Indian Premier League, for a price of USD 75.09 million (Rs 357 crores), and have since named the team Kolkata Knight Riders. KKR is the richest team in the IPL and it has been ranked as the most valued with a brand value of $42.1 million.^[164] Financially, the KKR are the most profitable and successful franchise in the IPL as well.^[165][166] The team was surrounded with controversy and poor on-field performance through the first three years of the tournament.^[167] It's performance, however, improved from the fourth season and they eventually became the IPL champions for the first time in 2012.^[168]

In 9 April 2012, Khan was served a notice by the Rajasthan Police for smoking in public after he was caught smoking on camera during a match between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Rajasthan Royals on April 8.^[169] and in 16 May of the same year he received a five-year ban from the Wankhede Stadium for arguing with security at the ground after a match between his team and The Mumbai Indians.^[170] Khan later apologised to the children and his fans after his team won the final match at Chennai on May 27.^[171] The Mumbai Cricket Association in return stated that it had taken note of the apology but had not withdrawn the ban.^[172]

In the media[link]

Khan at the launch of his official Opus, in 2011.

Khan was given the birth name "Shahrukh" (meaning "Face of the King"), but prefers his name to be written as "Shah Rukh Khan", and is also commonly referred to as SRK.^[173] Khan has various homes in India and abroad. His house in Mumbai called Mannat is a well-known tourist spot and is considered a heritage building, deemed important to the townscape and hence exempt from demolition.^[1] In addition, he also had a house in New Delhi.^[174] Khan also owns a £20 million apartment in London and a villa on the Palm Jumeirah. He said in a television interview that "I bought the house, because one can see the island from the moon."^[175][176] Khan's net worth is estimated at over 25 billion (US$540 million)^[177][178]

Khan has been noted for having several trademark mannerisms, gestures and ways of delivering dialogues.^[37][87] As it has been cited by CNN-IBN: "The mannerisms that have earned him both brickbats and endeared him to his fans over the years – that half nod, raised brow gesture, a deep dimpled smile and a deliberate stammer – were absent when he debuted. If he picked them up later to addapt to the big screen, they stayed for the rest of his acting career."^[179] Due to his appearance in numerous romantic films, Khan has developed a "romantic lover boy" image and is referred to as the "King of Romance" by media outlets.^{[180][181][182]} He has been accused of repeating himself through the type of characters that he played, referred to as the "Rajs and Rahuls", or him not being able to shed the superstar persona on screen and often playing himself.^[183] In 2011, Rediff listed him in the top 10 "Readers Choice: The Greatest Actors of all time".^[184]

Globally, Khan is considered to be one of the biggest movie stars, with a fan following claimed to number in the billions. He is also of one the most watched movie stars in the world, and one of the most recognisable faces of Indian cinema.^{[185][186][187][132]} In 2008, Newsweek named him one of the 50 most powerful people in the world.^[3] In 2011, The Los Angeles Times noted: "He is the biggest movie star you’ve never heard of. And perhaps the world’s biggest movie star, period."^[188] His success and popularity has been attributed as the result of his emergence in the era of liberalisation and changing economic scenario in the 1990s. He was often described as the face and catalyst of a new consumerist urban society, and that he has managed to personify "the restless spirit of post-liberalization, ambitious, assertive and yet feel-good India."^{[189][190][191]}

In 2004, Khan was awarded the Filmfare Power Award (shared with Amitabh Bachachan) for topping the Filmfare list of the "Ten Most Powerful Names of Bollywood", and again in 2005. In 2006 he was ranked as second overall behind Yash Chopra and his son Aditya and the most powerful actor, an achievement he would go on to repeat till 2009.^[192][193] He occupied the top slot of Box Office India's Top Actors list for the first time in 1994 for two consecutive years, then again in 1998 and for the majority of the 2000s (from 2002 till 2008).^[194] He was voted the sexiest Asian man in the world by Eastern Eye in 2007, and was ranked third in 2008 and 2011.^[195][196] In a 2009 poll conducted by the newspaper DNA, he was voted as India's second most popular icon behind Sachin Tendulkar.^[197] In a 2012 Hindustan Times Youth Survey, Khan was declared as the biggest role model for youth in India.^[198]

Khan is often labelled by the Media as "Brand SRK" due to his various brand endorsement and entrepreneurship ventures. The Times Of India noted “Khan has established himself as a brand on the map of the film industry. Hailing from a non-filmi background with no pedigree to boast of and no godfather to pull strings, the St. Columba's alumnus has become a muse. ”^[199] In 2005, he launched his own perfume, labelled "Tiger Eyes by SRK" by the French perfume brand Jeanne Arthes.^[200] In 2009, Khan was crowned as the "Brand Ambassador of the Year" at the CNBC Awaaz consumer awards and in 2010 won the ‘Brand Ambassador of the Year’ award at NDTV Profit Car & Bike Awards.^[201][202] He is also is one of the top paid Bollywood actors in this respect.^[203] While in 2003, he endorsed eight brands, his endorsement rose up to a total of thirteen brands in 2004 and in 2005, he endorsed twenty one brands, thirty four brands in 2009 and twenty five in 2011.^[204][205] Some of the brands that he has endorsed over the years are Pepsi, Nokia, Hyundai, Sunfeast, Videocon, Airtel, Himani, Nerolac Paints, Dish TV, D'decor and Tag Heuer.^[204][205] In 2011, Khan was appointed the brand ambassador of the Champions League Twenty20.^[206]

In 2005, Nasreen Munni Kabir produced a two-part documentary on Khan, titled The Inner and Outer World of Shah Rukh Khan. Featuring his 2004 Temptations concert tour, the film contrasted Khan's inner world of family and daily life with the outer world of his work. The book Still Reading Khan by Mushtaq Sheikh, which details his family life, was released in 2006. Another book by Anupama Chopra, King of Bollywood: Shahrukh Khan and the seductive world of Indian cinema, was released in 2007. It describes the world of Bollywood through Khan's life.^[207][208] In 2010, Discovery Travel & Living channel produced a ten-part series titled Living with a Superstar-Shah Rukh Khan. The series was the biggest Indian show on television, with a budget of nearly 20 million, highlighting Khan’s daily living, film-making, IPL venture and global lifestyle.^[203][209] Khan is also the first actor and the second Indian after Sachin Tandulkar to have an official Opus dedicated to him.^[210]

Awards and honours[link]

Filmography[link]

See also[link]

Bollywood portal

• List of Indian Actors
• Newark Airport Incident

Notes[link]