Google’s Legal Chief Joins KKR Board

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KKR & Co. L.P. (NYSE:KKR) knows how to make money. With upwards of $91 billion under management the firm’s founders Henry Kravis and George Roberts received $161.4 million and $165.5 million respectively in cash dividends and executive pay in 2013, according to a recent SEC filing.

Google’s Legal Chief: Board appointment

But that was news from last month. Today saw the firm announce that David C. Drummond, the chief legal officer of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and senior vice president for corporate development at the search giant, has decided to join the board of the private equity firm, according to a statement today.

The announcement was made retroactively to Friday and Drummond will also be seated on the conflicts committee. With his appointment, KKR & Co. L.P. (NYSE:KKR)’s board is now comprised of the aforementioned founders and seven independent directors.

In addition to joining the “Barbarians at the Gate” that founded the company and leveraged RJR Nabisco, Drummond will be joining a notable list of luminaries who make up the board including Joseph A. Grundfest, a former commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission; John B. Hess, chief executive of the Hess Corporation; and Robert W. Scully, a former Morgan Stanley executive.

Drummond, who joined Google in 2002 as its first outside legal counsel, worked for the corporate transactions group of the law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati before agreeing to join Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Drummond’s early work at Google had him facilitating the company’s early financing and incorporation.

Other work

By no means is Drummond done with Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG). To date, he is still the chair of both of Google’s investment extensions, Google Ventures and Google Capital. His experience with M&As at Google certainly helped his Friday appointment to the KKR & Co. L.P. (NYSE:KKR) board.

Drummond, who like Brin and Page also attended Stanford (in his case Stanford Law School), is a stalwart in Silicon Valley and also sits on the board of both Uber and Rocket Lawyer.

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