Revenge of the founders: A generational struggle on Wall Street

Firms like Carlyle have sought to convince outsiders that they would cede control to a younger class of executives

In early August, Kewsong Lee, the chief executive of the Carlyle Group, got on a videoconference call with two of the private equity firm’s board members. They told him that Carlyle’s septuagenarian founders were planning to play a more active role managing the firm.

Two days later, Carlyle stunned Wall Street: Lee was stepping down. So sudden was his resignation that the company didn’t have a successor lined up.

The chief executive’s departure — which people familiar with the matter said arose from differences over how to run the firm and after Lee was perceived to criticize the firm’s three founders —