StarZero All shows Try the podcast clipper →

Stephen Schwarzman

Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder, Blackstone · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

investorexecutivefounderauthorreadwhatittakes.com ↗Wikipedia ↗

Schwarzman co-founded Blackstone in 1985 with Peter G. Peterson, building it into the world’s largest alternative asset management firm. He is also the author of What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence and the benefactor behind the Schwarzman Scholars program.

29statements → 10claims → 6claims resolved → 50%fully supported → 3.86/5average certainty → 1.86/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated → 5said about them ↓

3 supported 3 partly supported 0 contradicted 4 not checkable as stated how the 10 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

10 assertions · 1 opinion · 14 insights · 3 disclosures · 1 what if · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 10 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 6 are resolved, and 4 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Stephen argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Schwarzman: Hilton buyout made $12B, the largest profit in PE history
“And that deal turned out to be the biggest profit in private equity history. And I just read some articles somebody wrote which makes you wonder who said we were completely irresponsible doing that because journalists can say anything they feel like. But that …”
Stephen Schwarzman Nov 12, 2019 ▶ 54:16 #69 Stephen Schwarzman: What It Takes

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Stephen Schwarzman on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

Everything Stephen Schwarzman said on the Knowledge Project that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Assertion Supported
Schwarzman: Blackstone launched with $400,000 and a $50,000 fee from Squibb
“I remember when we got our first assignment, that was from Squibb, which was a pharmaceutical company for 50,000 dollars, which was less than the smallest legal bill I had ever gotten on a transaction. But 50,000 dollars, we started with 400,000 total capital.…”
Stephen Schwarzman Nov 12, 2019 ▶ 24:57 #69 Stephen Schwarzman: What It Takes
Insight
Schwarzman: Fear of financial ruin prevents emotional presence with family
“That it's hard to be emotionally present when you're worried about completely wiping out financially.”
Stephen Schwarzman Nov 12, 2019 ▶ 26:39 #69 Stephen Schwarzman: What It Takes
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Schwarzman: Blackstone received 17 rejections for every yes on Fund I
“I remember each one of the investors because we were turned down 17 times for every one yes.”
Stephen Schwarzman Nov 12, 2019 ▶ 28:18 #69 Stephen Schwarzman: What It Takes
Assertion Supported
Schwarzman: Financial stocks fell 85% in 2008 crisis while Blackstone fell 90%
“The average stock of a financial company, bank, money manager, didn't matter, during the financial crisis went down 85%. So if you've ever been involved with something that went down 85%, You would not be a particularly happy Kemper. Blackstone's always been a…”
Stephen Schwarzman Nov 12, 2019 ▶ 55:48 #69 Stephen Schwarzman: What It Takes
Insight
Schwarzman: Top-of-cycle investing demands powerful momentum and historically safe pricing
“You always have to know where you are in the cycle, so if you're near the top, this thing's gotta really, it's got a lot to prove to deploy that money. It's gotta have a, just a rip-roaring, wonderful set of momentum thesis, so it'll power through a downturn, …”
Stephen Schwarzman Nov 12, 2019 ▶ 59:13 #69 Stephen Schwarzman: What It Takes

The other half of the tape: Stephen Schwarzman's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 5 times in 3 episodes on the Knowledge Project. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Shane Parrish 4Nicolai Tangen 1

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
00214220252026episodesmentions
01220252026episodes it came up in
00112220252026episodesmentions per episode
2026 1 mention in 1 episode
2025 4 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
#69 Stephen Schwarzman: What It Takes Nov 12, 2019 49m
Made with StarZero

Turn any episode into a week of clips.

This entire site, over 200 episodes transcribed, diarized, checked and made playable, runs on the StarZero media pipeline. Drop in your own episode and the podcast clipper finds the moments worth sharing, cuts them, captions them, and reframes them for every feed.

Try the podcast clipper Learn more