G eorge Roberts is an American billionaire financier and one of the three original founders of the legendary private equity firm, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR). He, along with his cousin Henry Kravis and their mentor Jerome Kohlberg, left the investment bank Bear Stearns in 1976 to found their own firm, a move that would help to create and define the modern leveraged buyout (LBO) industry.

Roberts was a key architect of the firm's strategy and was the driving force behind its West Coast operations. KKR became famous for its massive and often aggressive corporate takeovers, most notably the epic 1988 battle for RJR Nabisco, which was immortalized in the book and film *Barbarians at the Gate*. For decades, he served as the co-CEO of KKR alongside his cousin, building it into one of the largest and most powerful alternative asset management firms in the world. In 2021, he and Kravis stepped down from their co-CEO roles, transitioning to co-executive chairmen. He is also a major philanthropist.