KKR is a global alternative asset manager running private equity, real estate, credit and infrastructure investment strategies on behalf of pension funds, insurance companies and other large institutional investors. The firm was one of the pioneers of the leveraged buyout in the 1970s and 1980s, buying companies using significant borrowed money and then working to improve their operations before eventually selling or taking them public again. Like other alternative asset managers, KKR earns management fees on the capital it oversees and performance fees when its funds generate strong returns, a model that scales with assets raised rather than with the outcome of any single deal. KKR has also built an insurance business by acquiring and growing Global Atlantic, giving it a large, permanent pool of insurance assets to invest alongside the third-party capital in its traditional funds.