The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 10 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
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 …”
Schwarzman: Blackstone's investing makes about double the stock market
“We've just become more popular because the type of investing we do makes about double the stock market.”
Schwarzman: Lehman's 1984 sale was triggered by trading limit breaches and rate losses
“People in the trading department exceeded limits on certain type of security, and it ended up that interest rates went the wrong way, and, you know, we lost doubly on the trade, and the impact of that on a mark-to-market basis would have gotten close to wiping…”
Schwarzman: Blackstone has almost never lost money for any bank
“We never had in our whole first fund ever lost any money for any bank. And, you know, we've almost never, in the firm's history, lost money for any bank.”
Schwarzman: 90% of Bad Investments Stem from Misjudged Known Risks
“Usually in about 90% of the cases, if something goes wrong with the investment, it's about those risk factors, and we got them wrong. The team didn't get them wrong. We all got it wrong, and so if that's the case, and the outcome is suboptimal, the team doesn'…”
Schwarzman: Blackstone flipped $70B in real estate in one month
“So, so we bought and sold seventy billion dollars of properties in one month. The most anybody ever had sold in a year was like bought and sold 10.”
Schwarzman: Parents never congratulated him on any accomplishments growing up
“My parents never congratulated me on anything I ever accomplished. It was just assumed that that's what you were supposed to do.”
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.…”
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.”
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…”