Big money: A man passes by the Blackstone Group signage outside its headquarters in New York City. The firm had set a target of reaching US$1 trillion (RM4.43 trillion) in assets by the end of 2022. — Reuters
NEW YORK: Blackstone Inc chief executive officer (CEO) Steve Schwarzman took home about US$1.26bil (RM5.58bil) in pay and dividends for 2022, a regulatory filing shows.
Schwarzman received more than US$1bil (RM4.43bil) in dividends from his Blackstone shares and US$253.1mil (RM1.12bil) in compensation, filing showed on Friday.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc slashed compensation for CEO David Solomon by 29% to US$25mil (RM110.8mil) for 2022, while JPMorgan Chase & Co CEO Jamie Dimon’s total compensation was unchanged at US$34.5mil (RM153mil).
Schwarzman, who was among Wall Street’s biggest contributors to Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign, said in November that he will not back Trump in 2024.
Higher interest rates, inflation, recession worries and geopolitical tensions from the Russia-Ukraine conflict have prevented private equity firms like Blackstone from selling assets for top dollar.
Blackstone’s net profit from asset sales fell sharply by 55% to US$366.9 mil (RM1.6bil) during the fourth quarter, down from US$817.5mil (RM3.6bil) a year earlier.
The company posted distributable earnings of US$6.6bil (RM29bil) in 2022, which was up 7% year-over-year.
“In 2022, Blackstone delivered record distributable earnings, US$226bil (RM1 trillion) in inflows, and realised a number of the most profitable fund investments in our history,” a Blackstone spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
Schwarzman owns about 230 million shares in Blackstone according to a filing from February, and the company paid US$4.40 (RM19.50) in annual dividend, filings showed.
The world’s largest private equity firm has been dealing with rising redemptions at its flagship real estate income trust, prompting it to exercise its right to block investor withdrawals at 5% of the quarterly net asset value of the fund.
Blackstone ended the quarter with US$974.7bil (RM4.3 trillion) of total assets under management and declared a quarterly dividend of 91 US cents (RM4.04) per share.
Blackstone had set a target of reaching US$1 trillion (RM4.43 trillion) in assets by the end of 2022.
This is an ambition it had brought forward from 2026. — Reuters
