# Cerberus Capital Management **Cerberus Capital Management** is a New York private-equity and alternative-investment firm founded in 1992 by [[Steve Feinberg]] and William L. Richter. It manages more than $60 billion across private equity, credit, real estate and specialty finance, and it has long specialized in distressed assets and government-adjacent businesses. Frank Bruno is CEO. Former Vice President [[Dan Quayle]] has chaired its global investments division since joining in 1999, and former Treasury Secretary John Snow is chairman. It is the rare PE firm with a bench of former senior officials on the masthead. ## The portfolio as a pattern - **Chrysler and GMAC.** In 2006 it bought 51% of GMAC, and in 2007 it led the purchase of about 80% of Chrysler for $7.4 billion. Both needed federal bailouts in the 2008–09 crisis, and Cerberus gave up its Chrysler equity in the restructuring. - **Guns.** Its Freedom Group rolled up Remington and Bushmaster. After the Sandy Hook shooting in December 2012, Cerberus announced it would sell. No buyer emerged, and Remington filed for bankruptcy in 2018. - **Defense services.** It took DynCorp International private in July 2010 and exited when Amentum bought DynCorp in 2020. Its portfolio has also included Navistar Defense and a string of government IT contractors. - **Hospitals.** In 2010 it bought the Boston Catholic system Caritas Christi for $246 million and built it into [[Steward Health Care]]. In 2016 a sale-leaseback with [[Medical Properties Trust]] funded a **$473 million** dividend to Cerberus. Cerberus sold its control to CEO Ralph de la Torre's group in May 2020, and Steward filed for bankruptcy in 2024. Senators [[Elizabeth Warren]] and [[Ed Markey]] put Cerberus's profit at about $800 million. Cerberus says that dividend was the only distribution it took from Steward, that it left the company with more than $650 million in liquidity, and that it bears no responsibility for what came after. The episode made the firm the central example in critiques of the [[Private Equity Hospital Rollup]] model. ## The Pentagon link Co-founder [[Steve Feinberg]] was confirmed as Deputy Secretary of Defense on March 14, 2025. His divestment paperwork left an unusual continuing financial relationship with the firm. At least four Cerberus-owned companies have since won Defense Department contracts, and Feinberg oversees the [[Golden Dome]] office. The details and sourcing are on his page. ## Why it matters for the KB Cerberus's portfolio keeps landing where private capital meets public money: bailout-era autos and auto finance, defense services, gunmakers, and hospitals that ran on Medicare and Medicaid and needed a state rescue once they failed. It does so with former officials on the letterhead. The 2025 appointment put that firm's founder in the Pentagon's number-two job. ## Related - [[Steve Feinberg]] · [[Dan Quayle]] - [[Steward Health Care]] · [[Medical Properties Trust]] · [[Private Equity Hospital Rollup]] - [[Private Equity]] · [[Healthcare Industry Ecosystem]] · [[Military-Industrial Complex]]