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Tony James

15 statements across 1 episodes · 5 bullish · 0 bearish · 1 people on the record · first statement May 5, 2026 by Tony James · across every show →

On the record as a speaker too: Tony James's record, appearances and statements → this page counts the times other people say the name.

Everything said about Tony James, oldest first

May 5, 2026
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tony James says he once managed 50 direct reports to minimize hierarchy
“I had at one point, I think, 50 direct reports.”
Tony James May 5, 2026 ▶ 1:04:48 Building Blackstone, Backing Costco, and Working with Munger | Tony James on The a16z Show
May 5, 2026 positive
Assertion Partly supported
Blackstone grew its valuation from $1B to $170B under Tony James
“AIG had just put a hundred million dollars into Blackstone for 10% of the company and the rights to invest in our funds. So, at best, it was worth a billion dollars, and when I left, it was worth a 170.”
Tony James May 5, 2026 ▶ 35:28 Building Blackstone, Backing Costco, and Working with Munger | Tony James on The a16z Show
May 5, 2026 positive
Insight
James: Backing pre-revenue founders creates a permanent co-founder identity
“When you find a couple of executives and back them before there's a company, before there's a, Dollar of revenue. Before there's an order. You feel as much as they do that you're a founder.”
Tony James May 5, 2026 ▶ 18:20 Building Blackstone, Backing Costco, and Working with Munger | Tony James on The a16z Show
May 5, 2026
Insight
Tony James: Single CIO approval bottlenecks do not scale in investing
“One CIO that was a very smart guy, but a bottleneck. And it wasn't a scalable model.”
Tony James May 5, 2026 ▶ 44:40 Building Blackstone, Backing Costco, and Working with Munger | Tony James on The a16z Show
May 5, 2026
Insight
Tony James: Leadership transition is the Achilles' heel of asset managers
“Leadership transition is the Achilles heel of an alternative, of any asset manager, in my opinion.”
Tony James May 5, 2026 ▶ 1:06:49 Building Blackstone, Backing Costco, and Working with Munger | Tony James on The a16z Show
May 5, 2026
Insight
Tony James: Most investors hold assets too long, whereas I sell early
“One thing I learned is a lot of people, I think, hold things too long. I probably sell too early.”
Tony James May 5, 2026 ▶ 17:54 Building Blackstone, Backing Costco, and Working with Munger | Tony James on The a16z Show
May 5, 2026 positive
Disclosure
Tony James reveals DLJ made early investments in Starbucks alongside Costco
“Starbucks too, by the way.”
Tony James May 5, 2026 ▶ 15:16 Building Blackstone, Backing Costco, and Working with Munger | Tony James on The a16z Show
May 5, 2026
Insight
Tony James: Investment committees define Blackstone's culture and rigor
“And also, for a firm like Blackstone, it's investment committees that are the cultural crucible of what defines the firm.”
Tony James May 5, 2026 ▶ 40:30 Building Blackstone, Backing Costco, and Working with Munger | Tony James on The a16z Show
May 5, 2026
Assertion Not checkable as stated
James: Prepared Blackstone IPO in secret for nine months
“Steve delegated to me, and I did really with no one else in the firm actually helping for nine months. I did it at night, and worked out all this with bankers, outside bankers and lawyers, but not internal people.”
Tony James May 5, 2026 ▶ 58:54 Building Blackstone, Backing Costco, and Working with Munger | Tony James on The a16z Show
May 5, 2026
Insight
Tony James: Executives must step down before company growth tops out
“I believe you've got to move out of that seat while the company's still, while you have plenty of gas and you're still at the peak of your performance and the company's still on the rise. If you wait till it tops out, you're gonna lose momentum for a while bef…”
Tony James May 5, 2026 ▶ 1:08:20 Building Blackstone, Backing Costco, and Working with Munger | Tony James on The a16z Show
May 5, 2026 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Costco passes 100% of supplier cost savings directly to customers
“So the more value we give, so whatever, if Costco can go find a new source for batteries and save a nickel, a hundred percent of that nickel gets lower prices. None of it goes into higher margin.”
Tony James May 5, 2026 ▶ 21:47 Building Blackstone, Backing Costco, and Working with Munger | Tony James on The a16z Show
May 5, 2026
Insight
Tony James: High ethical norms protect firms better than heavy compliance layers
“Putting more controls in doesn't necessarily protect you. That a lot of it, if you have good people, and you trust them, and you hold them to very high ethical standards, and that becomes the behavioral norm, That's much better than having lots of watchers and…”
Tony James May 5, 2026 ▶ 1:05:00 Building Blackstone, Backing Costco, and Working with Munger | Tony James on The a16z Show
May 5, 2026
Assertion Supported
Tony James Replaced Almost Every Business Leader Upon Arriving at Blackstone
“I think virtually every, the leader of every business almost was changed, because a lot of culture comes from leadership.”
Tony James May 5, 2026 ▶ 36:32 Building Blackstone, Backing Costco, and Working with Munger | Tony James on The a16z Show
May 5, 2026 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tony James and Steve Schwarzman agreed on 98% of decisions at Blackstone
“By the way, we agreed 98% of the time.”
Tony James May 5, 2026 ▶ 29:46 Building Blackstone, Backing Costco, and Working with Munger | Tony James on The a16z Show
May 5, 2026
Disclosure
Tony James spoke with Charlie Munger biweekly for decades
“I talked to him every two weeks, whether we were on the board or not.”
Tony James May 5, 2026 ▶ 24:41 Building Blackstone, Backing Costco, and Working with Munger | Tony James on The a16z Show
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