The New York Times’ Janet Morrissey writes about the background of Kroll Bond Ratings’ founder, Jules Kroll, the acknowledged pioneer of the modern investigations, intelligence, and corporate security industry:
“It was nearly 40 years ago, when [Jules Kroll] practically invented the business known as corporate intelligence, that he first came to the attention of crafty boardrooms. At a time when “private eye” still conjured images of cheating spouses and seedy hotels, Mr. Kroll built a sort of private C.I.A. and went corporate. If a Fortune 500 company or an A-list investment house wanted the dirt, it hired Kroll Inc. to dig it up.
Which is why his latest venture seems at once so unusual and yet so very Kroll. At 69, an age when other multimillionaires are working on their backswings, he is getting into — of all things — the credit ratings business….
…The venture capital firms Bessemer Venture Partners, RRE Ventures and New Markets Venture Partners have invested a combined $24 million in it. And Mr. Kroll has personally staked $5 million.”
Read the complete article at: “A Corporate Sleuth Tries the Credit Rating Field.”