Stephen A. Schwarzman

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Stephen A. Schwarzman (born February 14, 1947) is a billionaire American businessman and the Chairman and co-founder of the Blackstone Group private-equity firm.

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[edit] Early life and education

Schwarzman attended the Abington School District in suburban Philadelphia and graduated from Abington Senior High School. He attended Yale University during the same period as George W. Bush (both were in the Skull and Bones society[1][2]) and graduated in 1969. He then went on to Harvard Business School and graduated in 1972.

[edit] Career

Schwarzman began his career in financial services at the investment bank Lehman Brothers, where he reached the rank of managing director at age 31. He eventually became the head of Lehman Brother's global mergers and acquisitions team. In 1985, Schwarzman and his partner Peter Peterson started Blackstone, which originally focused on mergers and acquisitions.

With an estimated current net worth of around $7.8 billion, Schwarzman was ranked by Forbes as the 41st-richest person in America in 2007.[3] He lives in a large apartment at 740 Park Avenue in New York, previously owned by the Mayflower descendent George Brewster and John D. Rockefeller Jr. Schwarzman bought it from Saul Steinberg in 2000 for just under $30 million.[4] However, an article in the New Yorker states that the apartment was purchased for $37 million. [5]

On 13 February 2007, Schwarzman celebrated his 60th birthday at the Armory on Park Avenue. Guests included Colin Powell, Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg, and Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York. The climax of the evening was a half-hour live performance by Rod Stewart, for which he was reportedly paid $1 million.

On June 6 2007, several financial news websites said that Schwarzman earned about $400 million (well over a million dollars per day) in fiscal 2006, and he is said to be worth over $7.7 billion in Blackstone Group stock.[6] This revelation was the first announcement of earnings by Blackstone, a result of an SEC filing. He received $800 million for the Blackstone IPO.

In 2007, Schwarzman was listed among Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World.

Schwarzman has served as an adjunct professor at the Yale School of Management and is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

On March 11, 2008 Schwarzman announced that he contributed $100 million toward the expansion of the New York Public Library, for which he serves as a trustee.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Stephen made $4.78 billion in compensation for 2007.

[edit] See also

[edit] Additional reading

[edit] References

  1. ^ Evan Thomas and Daniel Gross, "Taxing the Super Rich," Newsweek, July 23, 2007
  2. ^ Andrew Clark, "The Guardian profile: Stephen Schwarzman," The Guardian, June 15, 2007
  3. ^ Forbes.com - Magazine Article
  4. ^ Gross, Michael. 740 Park: The Story of the World's Richest Apartment Building. New York: Broadway Books, 2005.
  5. ^ Stewart, James B. Profiles: The Birthday Party: How Stephen Schwarzman became private equity's designated villain.
  6. ^ Michael Flaherty, "Blackstone Co-Founders to Get $2.3 Billion Post IPO," Reuters, June 11, 2007

[edit] External links

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