BLACKSTONE chief executive officer Steve Schwarzman collected just over US$1 billion in pay and dividends in 2024, putting the spotlight on the billionaire’s wealth just as Washington takes aim at how private equity profits are taxed.
Most of Schwarzman’s annual windfall came in dividends, not fund profits. He is the single largest holder of Blackstone stock with a stake of almost 20 per cent in the world’s largest alternative asset manager worth roughly US$37 billion, according to an annual filing on Friday.
Schwarzman took home about 11.5 per cent more than what he reaped in 2023 because of his US$916 million in dividends.
It’s a reminder of how the fortunes of Schwarzman, 78, are tied to Blackstone and its stock, even though heir-apparent and President Jon Gray is in charge of the day-to-day running of the firm.
Schwarzman earned US$83.7 million in incentive fees and the cut of profits from funds known as carried interest.
While the amount fell from the prior year, it continues to dwarf his US$350,000 salary.
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Those profits have vaulted Schwarzman to one of Wall Street’s highest paid CEOs, with a net worth of some US$51.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index
President Donald Trump has vowed to bring an end to the special status of carried interest, which is generally taxed at a lower rate than wages. It’s the latest salvo in a long-running fight over what critics call the billionaires’ loophole.
A politically connected Trump backer whose name gilds everything from the New York Public Library’s flagship complex to the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, Schwarzman has staunchly defended carried interest through the years.
Today, Blackstone oversees US$1.1 trillion in assets. It is the largest commercial property manager, a giant lender and a force in buyouts. Earnings tied to fees and selling deals rose in 2024.
Schwarzman’s outsize rewards make clear: Blackstone remains a firm tied to the man who founded it. Still, it is also a firm that Blackstone’s No. 2 executive, Gray, is increasingly making his own.
Gray’s haul
Gray earned US$44 million in carried interest and incentive fees. Meanwhile, he scored US$169.7 million in dividends. In total, he collected US$247 million in various forms of compensation and dividends.
Gray, 55, has consolidated power at Blackstone and rallied the firm around thematic bets like data centres and technology. He’s turned the firm once known as a manager of pension funds and big institutions into a bigger retail brand. He’s making a big push to use insurance dollars to finance companies, overturning the idea that lending is the sole province of banks.
He’s among a crop of finance leaders who are the new face of modern private equity.
Firms have moved beyond their buyout roots and become bigger, mainstream and diversified. They’re led not by founders, but corporate chieftains and dealmakers who have risen up the ranks.
Key executives in the company earned less in carried interest and incentive fees compared to the prior year.
It reflects the overhang of still-muted markets.
Real estate markets remain in uneven recovery, keeping a lid on earnings. After dealmakers struggled to sell private equity bets in 2024 at the prices they hoped for, more initial public offerings – as well as mergers and acquisitions – are stirring. This raises hopes this year’s haul will be bigger than 2024.
“Blackstone has a performance-driven compensation model that is built on long-term alignment with our investors,” a firm spokesman said. BLOOMBERG
