In 1985, Stephen Schwarzman teamed up with his then boss at investment bank Lehman Brothers Peter Peterson to found The Blackstone Group.
Stephen Schwarzman Net Worth: $53 Billion
The group has since grown to become the largest private equity investment business in the world. And its investments have made 77-year old Schwarzman, CEO and chairman of the group, a very wealthy man with a net worth of around $53 billion,
Now managing more than $1 trillion in assets under management, Blackstone began life as a leveraged buyout operation but has since evolved into a long-term successful backer of globally recognised companies.
One of these is the Hilton hotel chain which the group took private in 2007 and re-listed in 2013 for a $7 billion profit.
In recent years it has invested in businesses including Legoland owner Merlin Entertainments, US health supplier Medline Industries and payrolls software company UKG. The firm is reportedly looking at listing some of these companies as well.
The group is also heavily invested in property, owning more than 12,000 premises as part of a commercial real estate portfolio worth up to $600 billion. It also owns a $70 billion portfolio of data centres.
When Blackstone went public in 2007, Schwarzman sold part of his stake in the group for $684 million, retaining stock then worth $9.1 billion. But most of his money appears to have been made from his executive compensation – in 2022 he was paid $253 million, more than any other CEO in the US. Previously, his salary had reached $734.2 million in 2015, $425million in 2016 and $786 million in 2017.
That he has summed up his approach to financial dealmaking by saying: “I want war, not a series of skirmishes… I always think about what will kill off the other bidder.”
This freewheeling outlook appears to inform his outlook on politics, as Schwarzman also a major donor to the Republican partly and strongly favours lowering taxes and government spending,
Robin has more than six years of experience as a financial journalist, most of which were spent at Citywire, and covers the latest developments in the investing, trading and currency transfer space. Outside of work, he enjoys reading literature and philosophy and playing the piano.
You can contact Robin at robin@goodmoneyguide.com
