Why is Steve Schwarzman still CEO
Guy is 77 years old and has been clipping $100M / yr at BX now for at least 7 years past his prime. Compensated as one of top 5 ceos this past year and for what? We all know other people are running the show for him. Why do shareholders allow this. How does society tolerate this.Jfc
Quit crying.
Because he's the founder, built the entire platform, and he wants to be. Not much more to it. This isn't like sports, guys older than Steve are still leading their firms in various capacities and still crushing it.
who're you referring to?
Buffet's in his 90s and still one of the sharpest investors alive. There's also a small roster of other very senior founders/early employees at MF/UMM/MM funds who are worth 9-10 figs who are in similar positions after they built firms/investing arms of those funds for 30+ years.
I’m saying more along the lines of it is a philosophical indictment of a sick society that a $100M teet exists. And indicative of a personality flaw of Steve’s that he can’t give up the reigns.
100m? His total comp in ‘23 was almost 900m, and the year before, 1.2B
"philosophical indictment of a sick society"
What are you talking about? He's the founder that still wants to work there
Lol it's a multi-billion dollar teet that he built, so, no. What is this commi philosophical bs you're referencing? Sounds like something a humanities professor would cry about while grading papers.
He built it. He earned it. Everyone who works in this industry dreams of achieving a fraction of the same in the best possible world. No one on the planet would give up those reigns if they don't have to, no matter how much self-aggrandizing BS they post on social media about how unfair and unequal the world is. That's reality.
lol. I couldn’t get passed this comment.
You might be looking for a different forum.
So he can slurp down soup during investment committee
Does he actually do that?
Yes, he is served lunch by the butlers of 345 Park during IC. He loves his soup and salad. Slurping soup and crunching on his salad never on mute in the boardroom.
B/c it feels dirty kicking him out and they don't want to tarnish their relationships. People are relationship/emotional driven, and business is no different.
He has relationships with every world leader, billionaire and CEO in the world. You don’t see how it’s useful to keep a guy like that around? Jon Gray is functionally the CEO anyway. And most of his comp is just dividends from his shares because he founded the company…
Yeh he’s an investor with a Prime Minister/President/PJT RSSG level Rolodex
Congrats on GH RX
He started the company you muppet
bro if you don't start the company = constant talks about succession plans (a la Jamie Dimon)
start the company = you stay on as CEO
You should read his book and see how hard it was to start a PE firm when he did.
King of Capital. Truly.
That's a book about him. His book is What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence
you jealous, brokie?
So when will Baratta get the CEO position? Gray’s real estate business has run into several issues.
And BX is known as gold for PE. Yes, RE too but PE is top
No shot
LOL...the same gold that's struggling to raise ~$20B for their flagship fund that will close significantly lower than its predecessor? Even baratta's mom would admit he doesn't have a shot at being CEO
Tough fundraising environment.
Also, why wouldn’t you appoint the head of PE to CEO instead of head of real estate? Especially considering it’s BX
Jon Gray is the clearly defined successor to Steve. He's the President / COO...i.e. overseeing firmwide, Baratta's boss, etc. You can make the argument Joe is next in line after that sure.
And not that it matters, but doesn't matter what ppl on WSO think BX is known for. $339bn RE AUM vs. $143bn PE AUM
It’s reasonable to assume that Gray has a greater chance given he is COO.
It’s also reasonable to see the job going to the head of PE at the greatest PE firm in the world.
With both having senior titles and being top of their game, I think it comes down to where the firm is headed and where there’s more opportunity/what is more profitable. At the moment and in the future, PE seems hotter than RE. It’s less of a Gray vs. Baratta talent war and more of an RE vs. PE business.
The RE business faces structural industry challenges whereas the PE business has lots of room for growth.
Also, despite the AUM numbers - BX gets its prestige from its PE powerhouse and the caliber of its people. That is irrefutable. Their best people come from the PE business hands down.
Counter to this is I think the puck for BX is heading toward being an administrator of assets vs a dynamic carry generating organization. They’re at $1T… Gray invented the BREIT retail investor piggy bank. Every fund can’t stop going on about next frontier of bringing in retail money into PE (including PC and REPE). Gray is the man for that job. Also Gray is in his own right a legend….LBOs of Hilton, and EOP, basically inventing the institutional single family rental business and IPOing that company, being early on logistics, $100b fee machine of BREIT. can’t discount this stuff just because he wasn’t buying a predatory healthcare late bill company or something…
You guys are all off the charts clueless. Gray is acting CEO and the next CEO. No question.
Baratta does a decent job at PE. He’s not a people person, he’s not relevant in any business outside of PE. Gray runs everything everywhere all at once. Anyone in the business knows that.
1. Like I said, it is reasonable to assume that Gray could be the next CEO. Gray is talented and is already in the C suite. He has lots of facetime representing BX and a solid track record. But just because he is COO doesn’t necessarily mean that he is the successor. Heads of divisions (Baratta) that are the main focus of a firm get promoted to CEO all the time.
2. Similarly, it is also reasonable to assume that Baratta could be the next CEO. He is head of the main focus of the firm. The PE business is much more successful, has way more clout than RE, and it has much more opportunity for growth. And Gray’s RE business is struggling and faces structural issues.
3. The PE business is 1000x better/more respected than RE. This is a 100% fact.
3. Baratta does just a “decent job at PE?” You are clearly retarded and that is one of the most idiotic things I have ever heard on this site. Baratta is head of the best PE firm in the world. That doesn’t happen from just being decent. You are clearly too retarded to make a coherent argument. It is laughable that you claim to be a Principal in LBOs given you clearly lack capacity to make a solid argument. It is obvious that you are not in PE and all/many of the above accounts fall under one group/pathetic person.
Lol, you know nothing.
Blackstone isn’t the best PE firm to anyone other than rising juniors at Stern. Thoma Bravo, Veritas, EQT, H&F, GTCR … long list of PE firms definitively better than Blackstone at PE.
I’d encourage you to open up a dictionary or maybe read investopedia. BXRE has seen some headwinds due to the interest rate environment, which is cyclical not structural. Even with those issues, the RE business generates 2x the earnings of the PE business. The portfolio is dramatically underweight office CRE and is massively exposed to logistics infrastructure. The PE business is fine. No better/worse than KKR/CD&R etc. It’s a serviceable large cap PE offering.
What Blackstone is the best at is being an alternative asset supermarket and having the best brand for institutional investors. That has less to do with PE and more to do with the fact that they’re the only large PE firm that has been able to build as big or bigger businesses outside of PE.
Im going to discontinue this debate after these (very obvious) points, because it’s a bit of a waste of time arguing with a college kiddo on WSO.
Are you stupid?
If Schwarzman had his entire net worth invested in a money market account, he would make $100 million every 20 days.
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