# Carlyle Group **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 1, 2007, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlyle-group/398322 "2007-04-01T18:23:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![justwannano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7ab992/32.png) [@justwannano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justwannano)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2007, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlyle-group/398322/1 "2007-04-01T18:23:00Z")
How do I find who the owner or operator or basicly who makes money from the operations of this group? I’ve heard recently that it is Bush Cheney and part of the Bin Laden family. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2007, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlyle-group/398322/2 "2007-04-01T18:31:36Z")
It is a large investment firm with billions of dollars in capital. Like people that invest in things like Fidelity funds or Putnam investments, you will find all kinds on people that are invested in it. I could be for all I know or your grandmother could be. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bushes, Bin Ladens, the Clintons, and the school teacher down the street are all invested in one of their funds. It doesn’t mean anything more than people that have accounts with Bank of America. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlyle-group/398322/3 "2007-04-01T18:41:07Z")
According to its website, “more than 1,000 investors from 61 countries entrust Carlyle with their capital” so a lot of people are invested in it. The Wikipedia article on it says that the bin Laden family sold its $2 million investment after 9/11 and that the three remaining founders own about half of the general partnership. ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2007, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlyle-group/398322/4 "2007-04-02T00:55:21Z")
[QUOTE=justwannano] How do I find who the owner or operator or basicly who makes money from the operations of this group? I’ve heard recently that it is Bush Cheney and part of the Bin Laden family. [/QUOTE] Every active and retired state employee in the state of California is an owner. CalPERS, their retirement fund, owns 5.5% of Carlyle. CalSTRS, the state teachers pension fund also holds significant shares. I believe Ohio’s public employees’ pension fund also owns a stake in Carlyle. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2007, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlyle-group/398322/5 "2007-04-02T01:16:57Z")
Is this the stuff you’re looking for: > [@](#): > > \*\*A Look At Why The Carlyle Group Wanted to Drop George W. Bush From Its Board \*\* > > A Decade AgoIn a column posted yesterday on [Salon.com](http://Salon.com), Joe Conason writes: “Preferring to avoid public scrutiny for obvious reasons, executives at the Carlyle Group usually say nothing about their firm’s connections with the Bush dynasty. But last April 23, Carlyle managing director David Rubenstein spoke quite frankly about the comfy sinecure he provided to George W. Bush more than a decade ago – and how useless Bush turned out to be. Whether he knew it or not, Rubenstein’s remarks to the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association were recorded.” > > Rubenstein said, "We put [Bush] on the board and [he] spent three years. Came to all the meetings. Told a lot of jokes. Not that many clean ones. And after a while I kind of said to him, after about three years - you know, I’m not sure this is really for you. Maybe you should do something else. Because I don’t think you’re adding that much value to the board. You don’t know that much about the company. > > Rubenstein continued: “He said, well I think I’m getting out of this business anyway. And I don’t really like it that much. So I’m probably going to resign from the board. And I said, thanks - didn’t think I’d ever see him again. His name is George W. Bush. He became President of the United States. So you know if you said to me, name 25 million people who would maybe be President of the United States, he wouldn’t have been in that category. So you never know. Anyway, I haven’t been invited to the White House for any things.” > > A copy of the tape was obtained by freelance reporter Suzan Mazur who recently posted a partial transcript on the Progressive Review website. She also supplied Democracy Now! with a copy of the tape. > > Mazur notes that some within the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association want to pull out of investments with Carlyle which is the 11th largest defense contractor. The group has deep ties to the Bush family and the military industrial complex. > > Let’s hear what Rubenstein had to say about Bush and the company Caterair International on which Bush served on the board of directors. And from Wiki: > [@](#): > > Critics of the Carlyle Group frequently note its connections to various political figures. Some of the sectors and companies in which it invests are highly sensitive to political activity; indeed, its actions may be viewed as a form of political arbitrage. This may create conflicts of interest when political decision makers have their own personal wealth [1] linked to such investments. Carlyle is the largest private equity firm located in Washington, D.C., its corporate headquarters are located on Pennsylvania Avenue. > > Critics refer to Carlyle as a private military contractor, because it owns controlling or partial interests in several military contractors. For example, it used to own United Defense Industries, which was developing the Crusader artillery project. This project was funded in eight consecutive Clinton budgets but was cancelled soon after Bush became president, which eliminated the remaining $9 billion of the original $11 billion contract. A much smaller contract was awarded to United Defense to capture technologies developed during the eight years of development. > > In the book House of Bush, House of Saud, author Craig Unger states that Saudi Arabian interests have given $1.4 billion to firms connected to the Bush family. Nearly 85% of the 1.4 billion, about 1.18 billion, refers to Saudi Arabian government contracts awarded to defense contractor BDM in the early to mid 1990s. Carlyle, however, sold its interest in BDM before former President George H. W. Bush joined as an advisor. > > Former President George H.W. Bush retired from Carlyle in October 2003. George W. Bush served on the Board of Directors of early Carlyle acquisition Caterair. Bush left the board in 1992 to run for Governor of Texas. > > The Saudi Arabian relatives of Osama bin Laden were also investors in Carlyle until October 2001 when the family sold its $2.02 million investment back to the firm in light of the public controversy surrounding bin Laden’s family after September 11. The bin Laden family has publicly disowned the al-Qaeda leader.[citation needed] Osama bin Laden has no economic interest in Saudi Binladin Group (SBG), whose investments were in part managed by the Carlyle Group until the arrangement was terminated by mutual consent. It’s another large entity that largely owes it’s success to the military industrial complex and it’s political connections. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2007, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlyle-group/398322/6 "2007-04-02T01:32:06Z")
[QUOTE=Spartydog] It’s another large entity that largely owes it’s success to the military industrial complex and it’s political connections. [/QUOTE] No, the Carlyle Group’s ties to the military-industrial complex nor it’s political connections aren’t nearly as sinister as its role in the _really_ critical part of the American economy. What’s really scary is that they own Dunkin’ Donuts. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2007, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlyle-group/398322/7 "2007-04-02T01:34:20Z")
[QUOTE=Dewey Finn] What’s really scary is that they own Dunkin’ Donuts. [/QUOTE] :chills: :shudder: ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2007, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlyle-group/398322/8 "2007-04-02T02:17:02Z")
[QUOTE=Dewey Finn] No, the Carlyle Group’s ties to the military-industrial complex nor it’s political connections aren’t nearly as sinister as its role in the _really_ critical part of the American economy. What’s really scary is that they own Dunkin’ Donuts. [/QUOTE] That explains the problems that Krispy Kreme has had. I thought KK was screwing up their own operation. Now I know that they were being crushed by a multi-national military contractor. Did Dubya resign Carlyle and join the board of Krispy Kreme? That would explain a lot too. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2007, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlyle-group/398322/9 "2007-04-02T15:37:06Z")
Krispy Kreme launched a massive drive of new stores at exactly the time when millions of Americans went on the low-carbohydrate Atkins diet. It was a bold, adventurous move (read risky,) and the Atkins thing was a stroke of bad luck. Their big jump in capital spending was in 2002-3, and they had negative earnings and cash flow per share in 2004-6. They seem to be rebounding a little in 2007, losing a lot less money per share. My advisor service predicts only an average chance of gain over the next year, and a lousy safety score. There has been no dividend since 2003. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2007, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carlyle-group/398322/10 "2007-04-02T15:46:14Z")
That’s just how devious they are; you actually think that Krispy Kreme’s problems were just the result of an unfortunate coincidence, rather than a vast conspiracy of the coffee-donut-industrial complex.