Nadeem OUT At Blackstone - What Now?
Another day, another sign that REPE is absolutely cooked. Everyone is banking on lower rates to hit target returns and that isn’t happening anytime soon
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This guy was so full of himself
I hate when people work for someone else and act like they are such a smart real estate professional
Guys like him actually don’t know real estate because they have really never worked in real estate. They have never put a construction budget together, leased a space, convinced a city to approve a project, overseen a deal from start to finish in the weeds
I am sure he will land on his feet somewhere but maybe he gains some humality
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Most PE people in general are absolutely worthless when it comes to understanding how real estate really works
The days of Trammel Crow where an MBA was forced to working in Office leasing and learn the business from the ground up are over
I am hardly impressed with anyone in PE especially ones that joined after the GFC
that’s nice to think about a top exec at a MF being a gritty investor but the reality is… not really his job. He’s supposed to keep the capital coming in and keep the strategy moving to a place where BX doesn’t lose money. So then they can go raise more.
Nadeem is a highly talented RE professional and saved BREIT with the UCal deal that he led and closed. He's also a complete gem of a person and very humble. You obviously don't know him.
What was so bad about him? Is bx re cooked….. lots of senior staff leaving
Very interested to see if anyone can spill the news on his departure. Kathleen made sense as she was an IR professional, Nadeem seemed like he came up the ranks and was positioned for a long stint.
The WSJ exclusive breaking the news included this as the kicker:
Sometimes reporters will include these concluding sentences as a hint to the underlying story or where the story goes next. So maybe portfolio marks is an issue? Because 'spending more time with his family' is clearly BS. Dude's been climbing at BX 20 years, made Global Head of Real Estate 9 months ago and then last week had a random epiphany about his family? Cmon.
Definitely very strange… have to imagine there was some sort of internal conflict. No one walks away from an 8-figure per year job in 9 months unless there’s some broader issue. Don’t really understand why BX would push someone out either after only 9 months; not like you can turn a real estate funds performance around that quickly
Per WSJ, BREIT returned 11% net and BREP 19% net over past 12 months. So, respectfully, the 'poor performance' story doesn't make sense .... unless actual and stated performance are diverging .....
Yeah, pretty solid returns, especially given the current market. Makes even less sense why there would be so much turnover at exec level
Here’s my take for those who care. Maybe it’s a variant view to those on this forum.
Nadeem built a great career. He probably has enough money that he doesn’t ever need to work again if he doesn’t want to and can collect income from his investments in funds / PA. Just a guess.
Last year one of his close colleagues was murdered in cold blood out of nowhere while walking in the lobby at work. That has a deep effect on people. Really humbles and shows how any day a person may not come home. Not saying she deserved it and not encouraging it. Just recognizing this horrible tragedy happened.
Nadeem in his press release said he wanted to spend time with family. It could very well be that this was a factor and that seeing his young colleague die and leave her husband and young children behind maybe gave him some perspective that his legacy on Earth will be more than just making billions of dollars for investors and investing in great real estate.
Maybe just maybe things are like Nadeem wrote that he wants to spend more time with his family and kids. I’ve been in these intense “high finance” jobs. The stereotypical absent father who never sees his kids and only works. Possibly Nadeem felt like as great as his career was and as great and bright as his future was at BX, maybe it was time to invest in an asset that is often undervalued and overlooked by many - his family.
Time will tell but the external data of his press release says he wants to invest in family as far as I can tell. Maybe that’s the main factor and maybe it’s true
I understand what you’re saying, and fully agree with the sentiment of family mattering more than anything. It’s still highly unusual to see someone at THAT level make this move seemingly out of nowhere in literally 9 months. The guy is only in like his late 40’s and is going to hang up the cleats for good? I’m sure it’s an incredibly stressful position and could see someone deciding to walk away after a few years (after banking an ungodly amount of money) but 9 months is objectively out of the ordinary regardless of circumstances.
That, and he was THE guy after Kathleen stepped down (or was pushed out?) last year
devils advocate, a guy at that level is exactly who I think should make that move. Do you want an associate who has been working 80 hours weeks to walk away? That associate has a long way to go in terms of buying a home, settling down in life, planning for retirement, etc. A late 40's/early 50's executive walking away is not that crazy in my view. There are more things to life than wanting to hang on to the CEO position, make money, need power, etc once you reach a certain point. It's a privilege and luxury to be able to walk away. He has that privilege, an associate does not.
Respectfully, these guys are workaholics who live to work, not work to live. We all know them. You don't get to be global head of RE anywhere by putting family before work, it's just that simple. And tigers don't change their stripes.
Absolutely no judgment here, just calling it like I've seen it based on decades of experience. The 'family' line is just not believable.
Just to respond to the commenters of my comment. It is very unusual for a lady to be gunned down in a terrorist attack in the middle of midtown Manhattan while she is in her 40s. Young kids at home. And the CEO of a Blackstone REIT. Not saying it’s 9/11 but psychologically can see an equivalent for a senior Blackstone real estate executive. As much as this forum likes to shit in everyone and be mean and all, I would take this guy at his word. I figure he has built his career and not lying and being a “truth teller” so to speak. He said he left to be with family. Yes, obviously rates going the wrong way, office etc plays a role in timing. But this is Blackstone. They have done cycles. They know how to manage different rates. This team got through Hilton. I don’t think an extra 300bps of interest drives a guy to change his life.
For example, how many survivors of 9/11 do you think would take a job at the WTC again? This guy can see himself as a survivor of a terrorist attack. Had he taken his afternoon sun break 20 minutes earlier it could have been him gunned down and not Wesley LePatner. It could just be a trauma place that he doesn’t want to work there anymore.
Sharing some thoughts. Thanks
I appreciate your sentiment, and might share it if the resignation was 15 days after the killing, but 15 months (during which time he accepted a big promotion)? And regarding him being a 'truth teller' and 'not lying,' there's plenty of socially acceptable times to lie, and a PR announcing you're leaving a firm is absolutely one of them. It's like when an athlete signs with a new team and says it was about culture and fails to mention he would have gone to Buffalo, NY for one dollar more.
With all respect. namaste.
He got fired
I know people are disagreeing and giving you MS, but as someone with kids, I get your POV. The amount of missed soccer games, missed play time, lack of vacations, etc. begins to come into perspective as you get older. I said it before and I'll say it again, when I graduated awhile back, I had the same dreams as many here, to build an empire, to be Sam Zell or Stephen Ross, to have a massive portfolio, to be a GP that rakes in crazy fees, to raise funds. When we're young, we have nothing to tie our feet down and are overly ambitious, its normal and its great to be like that. But as we age, things change, we burn out, we get married, we have kids. We want to take it easy and somewhere in that need to build an empire you begin to reflect that its not all cracked up to be. In the end, I don't want to be a GP of a $5B real estate fund, not because I don't want to do it, but because the time/luck/risk it would take to get there is not worth it for me anymore. At this point, I'll work myself up to having some nice net lease retail centers with minimal debt in core markets with low vacancy and Im done. Someone else can build their empire and I am totally happy watching their success from a distance and enjoying a beer.
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Absolutely beautifully said and made an impact on me. Thank you
Bad investment no no it’s a long term strategy
I think they have a deep bench over there at Blackstone.
You know the guy got married like just a couple years ago
This notion about wanting to spend more time with family is total garbage
No alpha male really wants to spend more time with their kids especially when they are babies or super young
He got fired just like Kathleen did
he is not an alpha male, you totally are! good job, and you are also totally lot more wealthy than him, so good job there as well!
Guarantee I am wealthier then him
Are you 14, Rick? Into looksmaxxing? Romanian sex trafficking?
“Alpha male” isn’t real. It doesn’t even apply to wolves.
Some real losers on this site, definitely do not have what it takes to be successful in this business
Brother, you are getting absolutely worked up about a guy you don't even know getting fired.
Maybe log off the internet for a bit.
Wasn’t there also a notable BREIT senior (maybe they were on the credit side) that departed 2 years ago too?
I have no insight into what happened. He made it to the top of Blackstone. The largest real estate investor in the world. Good for him whether or not he left on his own or was pushed out.
Made it to the top only to be fired soon thereafter
That’s not a great career
If you're going by earnings or prestige, his career could end today and it'd be better than 99.9% of other real estate careers. I'm the last person to glaze these guys, but let's be objective here. If someone's worth reporting on in a real estate rag, they're doing better than the 95%+ of people who aren't worth writing about.
after some years of marriage I would expect this guy to want to spend the least amount of time with his wife
1000%...he just got married which means he probably has very young kids too...who wants to spend time with crying whining toddlers at home...different when your kids get older
Someone who doesn't hate their kids?
so i remember ppl were saying he pushed out kathleen. if he had enough clout to push out kathleen, he would have had enough clout to not get fired 9 months after doing so. it’s one or the other.
I do not work at BX, but my two cents:
Why would Steve and Jon, the latter of which has worked directly with Nadeem for 18 years, push him out 9 months into the top job? You would think he would have more runway than that? As far as what has been reported publicly, it’s not like Nadeem has a ton of investment duds to his name (unlike Jon Korngold, who oversaw a bunch of steep losses at BXG).
Again, can't comment on the investments accurately as I don't work at BX. But if you want me to speculate, BREIT seems to be struggling more than what is being let on, and latest flagship isn't doing so hot if I'm not mistaken. I don't think moves like these are necessarily performance related, as you say above. It is a strange move at the top.
The BREIT rescue deal is an awful deal for Blackstone when you break it down
He was fired because he wasn’t good at his job
Many here need to read the Peter principle
That BREIT rescue deal is doing to be awful for Blackstone when you really think about it
He will end up getting some BS job in real estate somewhere but will never even get close to the high of being head of Blackstone real estate
It’s a great lesson for many on here
Do you own thing. It’s far better in the end to be in the arena in real estate then let other control your career
This guys career is to be looked on poorly
The goal is to not get to the top, it’s to do it on your own and stay there on your terms
respectful counterargument: he made bets with OPM (other people's money) and got PAID even when those bets soured. Had he used HOM (his own money) making the exact same bets, he'd be standing on the ledge of a very tall building at the moment.
Can you explain what went down with the BREIT deal with CalPERS (STRS?). How was it structured and why is it doing so poorly?
“Meghji’s departure…came as a surprise to Blackstone’s upper management” per WSJ
Noticed this as well .... that changes things in my mind. Maybe he did quit on his own volition. Very odd.
Baratta is now out. What the heck is going on internally at BX?!?!?
Maybe him (and Joe Baratta) are sad that Jon Gray is getting the CEO job and not them.
This has been widely known for probably a decade. Not to read too much into it, but when Nadeem left they announced his successors in the same press release. With Joe Baratta, there was no named successor.
Nadeem OUT? Omg wtf is BX going to do bro?!!?!
It's worth mentioning that David Levine is like their boy-genius that they love. If I was to guess, Nadeem felt the footsteps of Levine approaching behind him.
I have worked with both of these talented professionals, Nadeem would be your first round pick...without question.
What specifically would make Nadeem your first-round pick over Levine? Given that both are exceptionally qualified and accomplished individuals at a top firm, curious what makes you think Nadeem is differentiated in a better way
Worked at a shop where I interacted directly with BREIT. We were all terrified during the building attack. It caused a few of our folks to rethink their lives. He is probably telling the truth.
I would also like to add that as someone heading there with a team for a meeting the next day. It was terrifying. So, if this highly smart, one of the best people I have dealt with in real estate wanted to leave after Wesley was shot...this forum is so ignorant. He can afford to do it.
It's been 15 months - a window in which NM took a big promotion. Not saying it's impossible, but with everything going in markets / at BX, the PTSD-15-months-after-the-fact story doesn't jump to top of list of plausible explanations. Esp when the 'spend more time with family' is the official explanation .... it begs for the tinfoil-hatters to speculate.
I'm sure the tragic WP event has a scarring impact on everyone. But also, NM has his own personal life too -- who really knows what's going on. A job is a job at the end of the day and this guy is minted. He can call it a day whenever he wants for what he deems are higher priorities.
When a close colleague gets brutally murdered and you have young children, you naturally consider how to use your next decade. Food for thought
Or as others have pointed out, you use that as an excuse/cover to bow out; see today’s WSJ article on BX RE
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