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Cramer on BloggingStocks: KKR takes advantage

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says KKR will join the list of buyout firms that fleece the small investor by going public.

Just what we need, a private-equity firm to go public. That worked just great with Fortress Investment (NYSE: FIG) (Cramer's Take), and it was terrific with Blackstone (NYSE: BX) (Cramer's Take). At least this one is some sort of reverse merger that might not inflict too much pain on the public.

Of course, folks in this business are displaying their usual lack of shame. It would be an excellent time for them to have a good reason beyond employee retention; I mean if you are making all of that money, what's the issue with retention? It would also be terrific if they were doing well, but there hasn't been a deal in so long that it would be a bit of an oddity if they were doing anything other than making a lot of fees.

But Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is a storied lot, so I figure the public will lap it up and all will be well until the losses start.

Or maybe this will be the one that's in the blue moon and the public will not be pants'd by the really smart bankers.

Who knows, maybe we will hear soon from Cerberus, because they are always saying things are going great, as if Chrysler could be doing swimmingly even as Daimler (NYSE: DAI) (Cramer's Take), Ford (NYSE: F) (Cramer's Take) and General Motors (NYSE: GM) (Cramer's Take) say things are terrible. I wouldn't put it past those guys, though. And when I look at their portfolio on the Web, I am just shocked that they are even in business.

We often talk about when we are at a bottom, and this filing by KKR is one of those anecdotes that says, "Don't count on it, more pain ahead." Maybe this will be the week where unemployment is so awful that we will remember it as: "Yeah, then KKR announced its deal, which was right at the beginning of the big recession, just like it tried to sneak in right at the end of the private-equity boom."

Throughout my life I have always marveled that the smartest thing the so-called smart people on Wall Street do is take advantage of the little people who really just want to make a little money in the market. It is what these Wall Street folks do best.

I guess it is time for them to shine again.

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RELATED LINKS:
KKR Set to Go Public
Secrets of Private Equity
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Jim Cramer is a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. At the time of publication, Cramer had no positions in stocks mentioned.

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Last updated: December 02, 2008: 08:14 AM

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