Blackstone Inc. Chief Government Officer Steve Schwarzman took house $896.7 million final yr, a 30% drop from a yr earlier, but nonetheless one of many greatest annual payouts on report in excessive finance.
Schwarzman, 77, collected $777 million in dividends alone from his roughly 20% stake within the alternative-asset supervisor, in line with a regulatory submitting Friday. He earned an extra $120 million principally by way of incentive charges and the share of fund income often known as carried curiosity. He acquired a report $1.27 billion in 2022.
Blackstone slowed its tempo of cashing out of offers final yr, as would-be consumers stayed on the sidelines and excessive rates of interest curbed valuations. That left dealmakers and executives with a smaller pool of income tied to asset gross sales.
In the meantime, the New York-based agency raised much less from buyers equivalent to pension funds as many have been extra cautious about parting with money.
Schwarzman’s shareholdings and the dividends nonetheless cement him as one of many world’s richest folks. His fortune is tied to the agency he co-founded. He has a internet price of $41.8 billion, in line with the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Blackstone President Jon Grey, Schwarzman’s inheritor obvious, obtained $266.4 million in 2023, a lower from $479.2 million a yr earlier. He reaped $141 million from dividends tied to shares held in addition to $125 million in wage, inventory awards and different compensation.
Financial institution CEOs
When accounting for the dividends, each males accumulate greater than the CEOs of the most important Wall Avenue banks, the place compensation packages for prime brass usually tally within the tens of tens of millions.
Schwarzman and Grey’s windfall underscores the clout of the non-public fairness business. Blackstone, like different buyout retailers, has grown right into a powerhouse that touches all elements of the economic system, lending to to companies and financing infrastructure initiatives.
Blackstone mentioned in an emailed assertion that its executives are paid based mostly on how they carry out for buyers. “We’ve navigated a risky interval for markets for our purchasers,” the agency mentioned.
In a muted yr for the agency’s dealmakers and fund buyers, shareholders nonetheless did properly.
The shares gained 83% final yr, together with reinvested dividends, beating its greatest friends in addition to the S&P 500, which returned 26%. Blackstone turned a member of the S&P 500 in 2023.
