Blackstone set to become first ever $1T PE firm
Blackstone Inc. is on the brink of a milestone that no other private equity firm has reached: running more than $1 trillion.
Analysts expect the firm to eclipse that mark when it reports quarterly results Thursday. It’s a far cry from the firm’s debut in 1985 — with $400,000 — marking one of the most dramatic transformations in modern markets.
Private equity firms have risen to power major tracts of the US economy. Blackstone became the biggest of them all by venturing beyond its buyout roots, becoming an everything store for financial products outside stocks and bonds, and leading private equity’s shift into the vast world of alternative investments. That strategy stoked breakneck growth, with Blackstone roughly doubling its assets over the past five years.
“We started with one private equity fund,” Chief Executive Officer Steve Schwarzman, Blackstone’s billionaire co-founder, said this year. “Now we do 60 different things.”
Blackstone’s milestone ushers a new era. Firms that grew up during a dealmaking boom and easy-money policies face higher rates, stiffer competition and more public scrutiny.
Blackstone’s broad reach has raised its profile with regulators and lawmakers, as it touches everything from single-family homes to the business of cleaning meatpacking plants. The roughly 250 companies it backs stand to thrust it into the center of a debate over the societal consequences of more companies staying private rather than entering public markets.
Its dealmakers occupy key board seats and hold sway over companies across the US. They shape firms that determine how people find romance, secure a house and keep the lights on. As the biggest owner of commercial real estate, Blackstone has taken other property funds
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