Founding and early history Blackstone was founded in 1985 by
Peter G. Peterson and
Stephen A. Schwarzman with (equivalent to $million in ) in
seed capital. The founders derived their firm's name from their names: "Schwarz" is German for "black"; "Peter", "petros" (, masculine), or "petra" (, feminine) means "stone" or "rock" in Greek. The two founders had previously worked together at
Lehman Brothers. There, Schwarzman served as head of global mergers and acquisitions business. Prominent investment banker
Roger C. Altman, another Lehman veteran, left his position as a managing director of
Lehman Brothers to join Peterson and Schwarzman at Blackstone in 1987, but left in 1992 to join the
Clinton administration as
Deputy Treasury Secretary and later founded advisory investment bank
Evercore Partners in 1995. Blackstone was originally formed as a mergers and acquisitions advisory boutique. It advised on the 1987 merger of investment banks
E. F. Hutton & Co. and Shearson Lehman Brothers, collecting a $3.5 million fee. was the former chairman and CEO of
Lehman Brothers. From the outset in 1985, Schwarzman and Peterson planned to enter the private equity business but had difficulty in raising their first fund because neither had ever led a leveraged buyout. Blackstone also ventured into other businesses, most notably investment management. In 1987 Blackstone entered into a 50–50 partnership with the founders of
BlackRock,
Larry Fink (current CEO of BlackRock), and Ralph Schlosstein (CEO of
Evercore). The two founders, who had previously run the mortgage-backed securities divisions at
First Boston and Lehman Brothers, respectively, initially joined Blackstone to manage an investment fund and provide advice to financial institutions. They also planned to use a Blackstone fund to invest in financial institutions and help build an asset management business specializing in fixed income investments. As the business grew, Japanese bank Nikko Securities acquired a 20% interest in Blackstone for a $100 million investment in 1988 (valuing the firm at $500 million). Nikko's investment allowed for a major expansion of the firm and its investment activities. The growth firm also recruited politician and investment banker
David Stockman from
Salomon Brothers in 1988. Stockman led many key deals in his time at the firm but had a mixed record with his investments. The firm advised
CBS Corporation on its 1988 sale of CBS Records to
Sony to form what would become
Sony Music Entertainment. In June 1989, Blackstone acquired freight railroad operator
CNW Corporation. The same year, Blackstone partnered with Salomon Brothers to raise $600 million to acquire distressed
thrifts in the midst of the
savings and loan crisis.
1990s In 1990, Blackstone launched its hedge funds business, initially intended to manage investments for Blackstone senior management. The same year, Blackstone formed a partnership with J. O. Hambro Magan in the UK and
Indosuez in France. Blackstone and Silverman also acquired a 65% interest in Prime Motor Inn's
Ramada and
Howard Johnson franchises for $140 million, creating Hospitality Franchise Systems as a
holding company. In 1991, Blackstone created its Europe unit and launched its real estate investment business with the acquisition of a series of hotel businesses under
Henry Silverman's leadership. In October 1991, Blackstone and Silverman added
Days Inns of America for $250 million. In 1993, Hospitality Franchise Systems acquired
Super 8 Motels for $125 million. Silverman left Blackstone to serve as CEO of HFS, which later became
Cendant Corporation. Blackstone made a number of notable investments in the early and mid-1990s, including
Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company (1991),
Six Flags (1991), US Radio (1994),
Centerplate (1995),
MEGA Brands (1996). Also, in 1996, Blackstone partnered with the
Loewen Group, the second-largest funeral home and cemetery operator in North America, to acquire funeral home and cemetery businesses. The partnership's first acquisition was a $295 million buyout of Prime Succession from
GTCR. In 1995, Blackstone sold its stake in BlackRock to
PNC Financial Services for $240 million. Between 1995 and 2014, PNC reported $12 billion in pretax revenues and capital gains from BlackRock. Schwarzman later described the selling of BlackRock as his worst business decision ever. In 1997, Blackstone completed fundraising for its third private equity fund, with approximately $4 billion of investor commitments and a $1.1-billion real estate investment fund. Also in 1997, Blackstone made its first investment in
Allied Waste. In 1998, Blackstone sold a 7% interest in its management company to
AIG, valuing Blackstone at $2.1 billion. In 1999, Blackstone partnered with
Apollo Management to provide capital for Allied Waste's acquisition of
Browning-Ferris Industries. Blackstone's investment in Allied was one of its largest at that point in the firm's history. In 1999, Blackstone launched its mezzanine capital business. It brought in five professionals, led by Howard Gellis from Nomura Holding America's Leveraged Capital Group, to manage the business. Blackstone's investments in the late 1990s included
AMF Group (1996),
Haynes International (1997),
American Axle (1997),
Premcor (1997), CommNet Cellular (1998), Graham Packaging (1998),
Centennial Communications (1999),
Bresnan Communications (1999), and
PAETEC Holding Corp. (1999). Haynes and Republic Technologies International both had problems and ultimately filed bankruptcy. and sold it to Monument Realty in August 2004.
Early 2000s In October 2000, Blackstone acquired the mortgage for
7 World Trade Center from the
Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association. 's Blackstone Group completed the first major IPO of a private equity firm in June 2007. In July 2002, Blackstone completed fundraising for a $6.45 billion private equity fund, Blackstone Capital Partners IV, the largest private equity fund at that time. With a significant amount of capital in its new fund, Blackstone was one of a handful of private equity investors capable of completing large transactions in the adverse conditions of the
early 2000s recession. At the end of 2002, Blackstone,
Thomas H. Lee Partners, and
Bain Capital acquired
Houghton Mifflin Company for $1.28 billion. The transaction represented one of the first large
club deals completed since the collapse of the
dot-com bubble. In 2002,
Hamilton E. James joined Blackstone, where he serves as president and chief operating officer. He also serves on the firm's executive and management committees, and its board of directors. In late 2002, Blackstone acquired
TRW Automotive in a $4.7 billion buyout, the largest private equity deal announced that year (the deal was completed in early 2003).
TRW's parent was acquired by
Northrop Grumman, while Blackstone purchased its automotive parts business, a major supplier of automotive systems. Blackstone also purchased a majority interest in
Columbia House, a music-buying club, in mid-2002. Blackstone made a significant investment in
Financial Guaranty Insurance Company (FGIC), a
monoline bond insurer alongside
PMI Group,
The Cypress Group and
CIVC Partners. FGIC incurred heavy losses, along with other bond insurers in the 2008 credit crisis. In 2005, Blackstone was one of seven private equity firms involved in the buyout of
SunGard, a transaction valued at $11.3 billion. Blackstone's partners in the acquisition were
Silver Lake,
Bain Capital,
Goldman Sachs Alternatives,
KKR,
Providence Equity Partners, and
TPG. This represented the largest leveraged buyout completed since the takeover of
RJR Nabisco at the end of the 1980s leveraged buyout boom. Also, at the time of its announcement, SunGard was the largest buyout of a technology company in history, a distinction it ceded to the buyout of Freescale Semiconductor. The SunGard transaction is also notable for the number of firms involved, the largest club deal completed to that point. In 2006, Blackstone launched its
long/short equity hedge fund business, Kailix Advisors. According to Blackstone, as of September 30, 2008, Kailix Advisors had $1.9 billion of assets under management. In December 2008, Blackstone announced that Kailix would be spun off to its management team to form a new fund as an independent entity backed by Blackstone. While Blackstone was active on the corporate investment side, it was also busy pursuing real estate investments. Blackstone acquired Prime Hospitality and
Extended Stay America in 2004. Blackstone followed these investments with the acquisition of
La Quinta Inns & Suites in 2005. Blackstone's largest transaction, the $26-billion buyout of
Hilton Hotels Corporation, occurred in 2007 under the tenure of Hilton CFO
Stephen Bollenbach. Extended Stay Hotels was sold to
The Lightstone Group in July 2007 and Prime Hospitality's
Wellesley Inns were folded into La Quinta. La Quinta Inns & Suites was
spun out for IPO in 2014 and later acquired by
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.
Buyouts (2005–2007) During the buyout boom of 2006 and 2007, Blackstone completed some of the largest leveraged buyouts. Its most notable transactions during this period included:
Initial public offering in 2007 In 2004, Blackstone had explored the possibility of creating a
business development company (BDC), Blackridge Investments, similar to vehicles pursued by Apollo Management. Blackstone failed to raise capital through an initial public offering that summer and the project were shelved. It also planned to raise a fund on the Amsterdam stock exchange in 2006, but its rival KKR launched a $5-billion fund there that soaked up all demand for such funds, and Blackstone abandoned its project. On June 21, 2007, Blackstone became a public company via an initial public offering, selling a 12.3% stake in the company for $4.13 billion, in the largest U.S. IPO since 2002.
2008 to 2010 During the
2008 financial crisis, Blackstone closed only a few transactions. In January 2008, Blackstone made a small co-investment alongside TPG Capital and Apollo Management in their buyout of
Harrah's Entertainment, although that transaction had been announced during the buyout boom period. Other notable investments that Blackstone completed in 2008 and 2009 included
AlliedBarton, Performance Food Group, Apria Healthcare, and
CMS Computers. In July 2008, Blackstone, NBC Universal, and Bain Capital acquired The Weather Channel from
Landmark Communications for $3.5 billion. In 2015, the digital assets were sold to
IBM for $2 billion. In 2018, the remainder of the company was sold to
Byron Allen for $300 million. In December 2009, Blackstone acquired
Busch Entertainment Corporation from
Anheuser-Busch InBev for $2.9 billion. In November 2013, Merlin Entertainments, owned in part by Blackstone Group, became a public company via an initial public offering on the
London Stock Exchange. In August 2010, Blackstone announced it would buy
Dynegy, an energy firm, for nearly $5 billion, but the acquisition was terminated in November 2010.
Investments 2011 to 2015 • In February 2011, the company acquired Centro Properties Group US from
Centro Retail Trust (now Vicinity Centres) for $9.4 billion. The company became
Brixmor Property Group and Blackstone sold its remaining interest in the company in August 2016. • In November 2011, a fund managed by the company acquired medical biller
Emdeon for $3 billion. • In late 2011, Blackstone Group LP acquired
Jack Wolfskin, a German
camping equipment company. In 2017, the company was handed over to its lenders. • In August 2012, Blackstone was part of a consortium that financed
Knight Capital after a software glitch threatened Knight's ability to continue operations. • In October 2012, the company acquired G6 Hospitality, operator of
Motel 6 & Studio 6 motels from
AccorHotels, for $1.9 billion. • In November 2012, the company acquired a controlling interest in Vivint,
Vivint Solar, and 2GIG Technologies. In February 2013, 2GIG was flipped to Nortek Security & Control, LLC for $135 million. • In April 2013, the company discussed buying
Dell, but it did not pursue the acquisition. • In June 2013, Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII acquired an industrial portfolio from
First Potomac Realty Trust for $241.5 million. Part of this portfolio was developed by StonebridgeCarras as
Oakville Triangle (Now "
National Landing") • In September 2013, Blackstone announced a strategic investment in ThoughtFocus Technologies LLC, an
information technology service provider. • In August 2013, Blackstone acquired Strategic Partners, manager of
secondaryfunds, from
Credit Suisse. • In February 2014, Blackstone purchased a 20% stake in the Italian luxury brand
Versace for €150 million. • In April 2014, Blackstone's charitable arm, the Blackstone Charitable Foundation, donated $4 million to create the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network in Colorado. The program encourages increased collaboration among local business leaders with the goal of retaining high-growth companies in the state. • In May 2014, Blackstone Group acquired the
Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas resort from
Deutsche Bank for $1.73 billion. • In August 2014, Blackstone Energy Partners acquired
Shell Oil's 50% stake in a shale-gas field in the
Haynesville Shale for $1.2 billion. • In January 2015, Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI announced it would sell a
Gold Fields House in
Sydney to
Dalian Wanda Group for A$415 million. • In June 2015, Blackstone acquired the
Willis Tower in
Chicago for $1.3 billion. • In July 2015, Blackstone acquired Excel Trust, a real estate investment trust, for around $2 billion. • In November 2015, the company agreed to sell facility management firm GCA Services Group to
Goldman Sachs Alternatives and
Thomas H. Lee Partners.
Investments 2016 to 2020 • In January 2016, Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII L.P. acquired BioMed Realty Trust for $8 billion. • In February 2016, Blackstone sold four office buildings to Douglas Emmett for $1.34 billion. • In April 2016, Blackstone acquired 84% of
Hewlett Packard Enterprise's stake in the Indian IT services firm
Mphasis. • On January 4, 2017, Blackstone acquired
SESAC, a music-rights organization. • On February 10, 2017,
Aon PLC agreed to sell its human resources outsourcing platform for $4.3 billion to Blackstone Group L.P., creating a new company,
Alight Solutions. • On June 19, 2017, Blackstone acquired a majority interest in The Office Group, valuing the company at $640 million. • In July 2017, the company announced an investment in
Leonard Green & Partners. • In July 2017, Blackstone acquired Clarion Events, a global event and exhibition organizer, for 600 million pounds ($802 million). • In January 2018, the company acquired Pure Industrial, a Canadian
real estate investment trust for C$2.5 billion. • In January 2018, the company announced acquisition agreement for 55% of
Thomson Reuters Financial & Risk unit for $20 billion. • In March 2018, Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. acquired a 22-million-square-foot portfolio of industrial properties from Cabot Properties for $1.8 billion. • In March 2018, Blackstone's Strategic Capital Holdings Fund invested in
Rockpoint Group. • In March 2018, the company's Strategic Capital Holdings Fund announced an investment in
Kohlberg & Company, a private equity firm. • In August 2018, PSAV was able to merge with Encore Global due to the help from an investment firm Blackstone. • In September 2018, the company acquires control of
Luminor Bank in the
Baltic countries. • In October 2018, Blackstone launched
Refinitiv, the company resulting from its January deal for a 55% stake in Thomson Reuters Financial and Risk business. • In October 2018, Blackstone announced to buy
Clarus. The deal includes assets worth $2.6 billion. • In January 2019, Blackstone formed real estate investment company
Link Logistics, which then acquired
GLP's U.S. warehouse portfolio for $18.7 billion in June 2019, making it the largest private real estate transaction in history at the time. • In March 2019, Blackstone purchased, with
Yankee Global Enterprises, a minority stake in
YES Network. • In April 2019, Blackstone acquired a majority stake in the
tube packaging company,
Essel Propack for $310 million. • In April 2019, Blackstone invested $480 million in Starfield, a shopping mall brand run by Shinsegae Group, securing a 17.15% stake. • In June 2019, Blackstone announced it had teamed with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and KIRKBI to buy
Merlin Entertainment, the owners of
Legoland in a deal worth £5.9 billion (about $7.5 billion). This was the second time Blackstone owned the company, having previously purchased it in 2005. • On July 15, 2019, Blackstone announced its plans to acquire
Vungle Inc., a leading mobile performance marketing platform. • In September 2019, Blackstone announced it agreed to purchase 65% controlling interest in
Great Wolf Resorts from
Centerbridge Partners. They planned to form a joint venture worth $2.9 billion or more to own the company. • On November 8, 2019, Blackstone Group acquired a majority stake in
Bumble Inc. (then MagicLab), owner of
Bumble. • Blackstone Group on November 15, 2019, invested $167 million in the holding company of Future Lifestyle Fashions Ltd., Ryka Commercial Ventures Pvt. Ltd. • On November 18, 2019, Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. acquired the
Bellagio resort in
Las Vegas, Nevada, from
MGM Resorts in a
sale-leaseback transaction. • On November 25, 2019, Reuters reported that Blackstone planned to invest $400 million in a
joint venture with
Swiss drug company
Ferring. The joint venture will work on gene therapy for
bladder cancer. The investment represented Blackstone Group's largest investment in drug development to date. • In March 2020, Blackstone announced that it was buying a majority stake in HealthEdge, a health-care software company. The deal, worth $700 million, was completed on April 13, 2020. • In July 2020, Blackstone invested $200 million in the Swedish oat milk brand
Oatly, for a 7% stake in the company, triggering outrage among some segments of its customer base. • In August 2020, Blackstone announced that it would buy a majority stake in
Ancestry.com for $4.7 billion (including debt). • In August 2020, Blackstone acquired Takeda Consumer Healthcare for $2.3 billion. • In December 2020, Blackstone invested nearly $400 million in
Liftoff, a mobile advertising company.
Investments since 2021 • In January 2021, Blackstone acquired a majority shareholding in
Bourne Leisure, a UK holiday and leisure company that owns
Butlin's,
Haven Holidays, and
Warner Leisure, for £3 billion. • In March 2021, Blackstone made a $6.2-billion takeover bid for Australian casino operator
Crown Resorts, offering a 20% premium to its closing share price at the time of the offer. At the time, Blackstone had a near 10% stake in the company. • In April 2021, Blackstone acquired eOne Music from
Hasbro for $385 million. Rebranded as
MNRK Music Group. • In June 2021, Blackstone agreed to acquire datacenter operator
Quality Technology Services for approximately $10 billion. • In July 2021,
MGM Resorts International announced it sold
Aria Resort and Casino and
Vdara to Blackstone for $3.89 billion in a
sale-leaseback transaction. • In July 2021, Blackstone Group and
AIG announced that the company would acquire 9.9% of AIG's life and retirement insurance investment portfolio for $2.2 billion cash, during AIG's
spin-off of the unit by IPO in 2022. The two firms also entered a long-term asset management agreement for about 25% of AIG's life and retirement portfolio, scheduled to increase in subsequent years. • In August 2021, the merger of two Blackstone portfolio companies, Vungle and Liftoff, was announced. Both companies are in mobile advertising. • In October 2021, the Blackstone Group acquired a majority stake of
Spanx, Inc. The company was valued at $1.2 billion. The deal was prepared by an all-female investment team from Blackstone, and it was announced that the
board of directors would be all female. • In October 2021, Blackstone acquired the Nucleus Network, Australia's premier clinical researcher, which is providing staple "healthy" volunteers large financial rewards for drug trials. • On February 14, 2022,
Crown Resorts accepted Blackstone's takeover offer. Blackstone will pay $6.6 billion for 90% of shares outstanding. • In April 2022, Blackstone agreed to acquire the Austin-based
American Campus Communities, Inc. for nearly $13 billion. • In April 2022, Blackstone announced that it would acquire
PS Business Parks for $7.6 billion. • In October 2022,
Emerson Electric agreed to sell a 55% stake in its climate technologies business to Blackstone in a $14-billion deal, including debt. • In May 2023, Blackstone acquired
International Gemological Institute a gemological organization which certifies
diamond,
coloured stones and
jewellery. • In June 2023, Blackstone acquired cloud-based event-software provider
Cvent for $4.6 billion. • In October 2023, Blackstone announced that, as part of a
club deal alongside private equity firm
Vista Equity Partners, it would acquire leading energy market analytics and simulation software firm Energy Exemplar for approximately $1.6 billion. • In December 2023, Blackstone announced an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Sony Payment Services Inc. from
Sony Bank. • In January 2024, Blackstone agreed to acquire Canadian real-estate company
Tricon Residential for $3.5 billion. • In February 2024, Blackstone made a growth equity investment in American
drive-thru coffeehouse chain
7 Brew. • In February 2024, Blackstone acquired online pet marketplace
Rover.com for $2.3 billion in an all-cash deal that it first announced in November 2023. • In April 2024, Blackstone announced a deal for a 50.7% share in Irish turnkey data center developer Winthrop Technologies. • In April 2024, Blackstone made a $1.57 billion offer, outbidding
Concord, to acquire British music IP investment and song management company Hipgnosis Songs Fund. The acquisition was completed in July. Rebranded as
Recognition Music Group. • In June 2024, Blackstone acquired
Tropical Smoothie Cafe from Levine Leichtman Capital Partners. • In June 2024, Blacksone acquired UK hotel company
Village Hotels. • In September 2024, Blackstone entered into a definitive agreement to acquire
AirTrunk, a data center platform in the
Asia-Pacific region, for an enterprise value of over A$24 billion. • In November 2024, Blackstone announced it was acquiring
Jersey Mike's Subs. The transaction was completed January 2025. • In March 2025, Blackstone acquired a 22% stake in
AGS Airports, which owns three airports in the UK, for £235 million. • In April 2025, Blackstone completed their acquisition of Safe Harbor Marinas from
Sun Communities first announced in February. • In June 2025, Blackstone acquired Assent, an Ottawa-based compliance software company for the supply chain industry, for $1.3 billion. • In August 2025, Blackstone-backed Legence filed for a U.S. IPO after reporting losses that nearly tripled to $26.5M in the first half of 2025 despite revenue growth. • In September 2025, Blackstone completed the acquisition of
Warehouse REIT in a deal valued at £489 million, expanding its UK industrial property holdings. • In December 2025, Blackstone announced an agreement to acquire
Hamilton Island. • In 2026, Blackstone led efforts to attract Japanese savers to invest their US$7 trillion in cash holdings into alternative assets such as private equity and private credit. The firm promoted its investment options through media campaigns, marking a major push into Japan’s private-wealth market. • In March 2026, Blackstone and Tinicum made a takeover proposal for UK aerospace company Senior. In February 2026, Blackstone was one of several firms looking into investment opportunities in the
Indian Premier League, the world's richest
cricket league, according to Reuters.
July 2025 mass shooting In July 2025,
a mass shooting occurred at the Manhattan headquarters of Blackstone. The gunman, identified as 27-year-old Shane Devon Tamura, entered the building wearing body armor and carrying an AR-15–style rifle. He opened fire in the lobby, killing four people. The victims included Wesley LePatner, a senior managing director at Blackstone and CEO of the real estate fund BREIT, an off-duty New York City police officer working security, a security guard, and another employee in the building. == Operations ==