Private Equity · Profile from Private Equity Research Companion
Blackstone Inc.
Founded with $400,000 as an M&A boutique in 1985, Blackstone became the world's largest alternative asset manager — the first to pass $1 trillion of AUM — by building the dominant global real-estate franchise, pioneering perpetual vehicles for individual investors, and treating private equity as one of many "product lines" on a single, data-rich platform.
At a glance
- Founded
- October 1985, New York
- Founders
- Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson (both ex-Lehman Brothers)
- Headquarters
- 345 Park Avenue, New York; ~25+ offices globally
- Ownership / listing
- NYSE: BX (IPO June 2007; C-corp July 2019; S&P 500 since Sept 2023)
- Leadership (2026)
- Chairman & CEO Stephen Schwarzman; President & COO Jonathan Gray (designated successor)
- AUM
- Crossed $1.0tn in Q2 2023; ~$1.1–1.2tn reported 2025
- Signature deals
- Transtar (1988), Celanese (2003), Equity Office (2007), Hilton (2007), Invitation Homes (2012), GLP US logistics (2019), AirTrunk (2024)
16 deals and moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1988
Transtar
Carve-Out Joint Venture
1998
Graham Packaging
Majority Recapitalisation and Long Hold
2003
Celanese
German Public-to-Private and Rapid IPO
2006
Freescale Semiconductor
Club Take-Private
2007
Equity Office Properties
REIT Take-Private and Rapid Flip
2007
Hilton Hotels
Take-Private
2012
Invitation Homes
Single-Family Rental Platform Build
2014
Gates Global
Secondary Buyout of an Industrial Platform
2015
GE Capital Real Estate
Portfolio Carve-Out
2016
TeamHealth
Take-Private of Physician Staffing
2018
Refinitiv
Carve-Out
2019
GLP US Logistics
Largest Private Real-Estate Acquisition
2022
American Campus Communities
REIT Take-Private
2022
Copeland
Corporate Carve-Out
2024
AirTrunk
Asia-Pacific Hyperscale Data-Centre Platform
2024
Jersey Mikes
Majority Buyout of a Founder-Led Franchisor