 When Fortress launched on the NYSE on February 9, 2007, it was the first large private equity firm in the United States to be traded publicly.As of June 30, 2016, the firm managed approximately $70.2 billion alternative assets in private equity, liquid hedge funds and credit funds.Fortress Investment Group LLC was founded as a private equity firm in 1998 by Wesley R. Edens, a former partner at BlackRock; Rob Kauffman, a managing director at UBS; and Randal A. Nardone, also a managing director at UBS.