Blackstone
New York-based alternative asset manager founded in 1985 by Stephen Schwarzman and Peter Peterson, listed on the NYSE and managing nearly $1.3 trillion at the end of 2025. Its Gulf base is in Abu Dhabi.
Industry: Alternative asset management | Location: New York, United States | Founded: 1985
About Blackstone
Blackstone is an alternative asset manager headquartered at 345 Park Avenue in New York. It invests across private equity, real estate, credit, infrastructure and multi-asset strategies on behalf of institutional and private wealth clients, and its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BX.
The firm was founded in 1985 by Peter G. Peterson and Stephen A. Schwarzman with US$400,000 of seed capital, starting as a mergers and acquisitions adviser, and it listed on 21 June 2007. Schwarzman is chairman and chief executive, Jon Gray is president and chief operating officer, and Michael Chae is vice chairman and chief financial officer.
On its fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call Blackstone put credit assets under management at $520 billion, infrastructure at $77 billion, its multi-asset platform at $96 billion and private wealth at more than $300 billion. Larger acquisitions include Hilton Hotels in 2007, the data centre operator QTS in 2021 and AirTrunk, agreed in 2024 at an enterprise value of more than A$24 billion. In 2025 it completed eight take-private deals, including Hologic for $18 billion.
In the Gulf, Blackstone moved its regional base to Abu Dhabi in 2019. In October 2025 its portfolio company AirTrunk agreed a partnership with HUMAIN to build data centres in Saudi Arabia, with an initial investment of about $3 billion. In March 2026 funds managed by Blackstone invested $250 million in Advanced Digital Gaming Technology, an Abu Dhabi payments platform formed with Raya Holding, with NRT Technology and Sightline Payments as technology partners. In July 2026 Blackstone said it would open an office in Kuwait through the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority, targeting the third quarter, and planned to announce further GCC offices the following year, while Reuters reported plans for an office in Dubai's DIFC.
Blackstone reported assets under management of nearly $1.3 trillion at the end of 2025, up 13 percent from a year earlier, with about $240 billion of inflows during the year. Distributable earnings for 2025 were $7.1 billion, or $5.57 per share, and the firm invested $138 billion across its platforms.
Leadership
- Stephen A. Schwarzman, Co-founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
- Jon Gray, President and Chief Operating Officer
- Michael Chae, Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer