Background:

Blackstone is the world’s largest Alternative Investment Manager with over $584 billion in AUM. It has established leading investing businesses across asset classes, including private equity, growth equity, special situations and secondary investing, real estate, hedge fund solutions, and credit. Blackstone is currently the largest property owner in the world.

Blackstone has a diversified portfolio of assets that it invests in, but in recent interviews, Mr Schwarzman has explained his strategy for different asset classes. In exploring real estate opportunities, he has stressed Blackstone’s role as, “Buy it, Fix it, Sell it”, rather than development. On equity deals, Blackstone has established an effective system that takes emotions out of proposing and vetting investment ideas. The goal? “Never lose money”.

Mr Schwarzman is an active philanthropist and some of the most notable donations include a £150 million gift to Oxford to create a new Centre for the Humanities, a $350 million gift to establish the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, and a $575 million donation to set up an international scholarship program, “Schwarzman Scholars,” at Tsinghua University in Beijing. In 2019, Schwarzman published his first book What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence, a New York Times Best Seller which draws on his experiences in business, philanthropy, and public service.

Mr. Schwarzman began his career at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ), an asset management firm, before going on to complete his MBA at Harvard Business School. Mr Schwarzman then built his career in investment banking at Lehman Brothers, where he was made Head of Global M&A at the age of 31. Whilst studying at Yale as part of his undergraduate degree, he and former President George W. Bush were both part of the infamous secret society Skull and Bones.