Fortress Investment Group: A Successful Financial and Investment Firm
The Fortress Investment Group is a financial investment firm that was founded in 1998 by three brilliant entrepreneurs. The company is currently headquartered in New York City, and they are regarded as one of the largest private equity firms in the country today.
The history of the company can be traced back when its three founders – Randal Nardone, Rob Kauffman, and Wesley Edens – were still with the BlackRock Financial Management Firm. The three founders of the financial and investment firm were serving the company as its managing director, and they had the idea of creating the Fortress Investment Group after they noticed how the company they are working for could easily profit from its clients.
After finalizing their business idea, Randal Nardone, Rob Kauffman, and Wesley Edens altogether resigned from the BlackRock Financial Management Firm and founded their own company in 1998. It was difficult at first for the founders to gather business partners who would invest in the firm that they established, but they never gave up and persuaded some of the most successful business people in the United States to invest in their company.
In just a few years after its establishment, the Fortress Investment Group managed to get a lot of investors, and the asset that the company holds rose to a billion dollars. The founders of the company knew that they could still do a lot better, and they doubled their hard work. Every year, they notice that their asset is climbing up until the founders are already holdings tens of billions of dollars in an asset.
In 2007, the founders decided to introduce the company to the public. They spoke with the New York Stock Exchange and explained that they would want to open their company for public trading. The New York Stock Exchange welcomed the debut of the Fortress Investment Group in February 2007, and close to $600 million was opened for public trading.
This amount is equivalent to 8% of the total value of the company at that time. Many people purchased stocks from the company, knowing that it has a lot of potentials. Investors are also stating that those who will buy shares from the company would have a better chance of earning more profit because of the possibility that it would still grow and expand.
However, the optimism of the investors was replaced with pessimistic views after the global recession hit. They feared that companies like the Fortress Investment Group would never make it back on track, and they are doomed to bankruptcy. Randal Nardone, Rob Kauffman, and Wesley Edens proved the experts wrong, as they try to work together to avert the worst thing that could happen in their company.
The three founders stated that their company seemed to be unaffected by the global recession, and they became stronger than ever after the economic crisis. Because of their strategy, their company managed to attract more investors, and it is reported that their asset is now valued at more than $70 billion. This figure keeps on expanding, as more investors are putting their trust to the company created by Randal Nardone, Rob Kauffman, and Wesley Edens.