Billionaire Henry Kravis Gives $100 Million to Columbia Business School

Henry Kravis, billionaire co-founder of private equity outfit KKR, pledged $100 million to Columbia Business School, the largest gift in the institution's history.

Columbia will use the money to help fund the construction of the business school's new site in New York City's Manhattanville section, Bloomberg News reported. The business school will name one of its two new buildings for Kravis, 66, who got his MBA from Columbia in 1969.

"We're not just constructing a building, we're building a community of entrepreneurs," Kravis told Bloomberg News. "If we don't get our education system right, we're going to be going backwards. I want to make sure this campus gets built. I think it will be phenomenal."

Kravis was a pioneer of the leveraged-buyout industry. KKR's 2007 buyout of power producer TXU Corp. for $43.2 billion, including assumed debt, is the largest on record.

Kravis has supported Columbia in the past, and he also serves as co-chairman of the New York City Investment Fund.