Leveraging: Henry Kravis (#353)

Henry Kravis: 51, New York, N.Y. $55,500. Party: R

By L.J. Davis

Henry Kravis' high point as king of the leveraged buyout came in 1989, when he paid a staggering $25 billion for RJR Nabisco. But times have changed, and Wall Street is more cautious. Kravis' buyout firm, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, sold off its final shares of RJR Nabisco at a loss in 1995. Nevertheless, the firm's buyouts continue: Kravis owns K-III Communications, which has been on a feeding frenzy in recent years, buying everything from magazines like New Woman and Seventeen to the controversial in-school TV network, Channel One.

To really return to the heyday of the buyout, Kravis will need a little help from Congress. Legislation sponsored by Rep. Jack Fields (R-Texas), for example, abolishes the Williams Act, the anti-fraud law used to prosecute Ivan Boesky and Michael Milken. Kravis is banking heavily on the Republicans to bring back the freewheeling '80s: To celebrate Bob Dole's birthday last summer, Kravis threw a $300,000 fundraising bash for the senator.