Stephen A. Schwarzman

Stephen Allen Schwarzman (born February 14, 1947 is a billionaire American businessman and investor and the chairman and co-founder of the Blackstone Group private-equity firm.

Early life and education

Schwarzman attended the Abington School District in suburban Philadelphia and graduated from Abington Senior High School. He attended Yale University during the same period as George W. Bush, one year behind him (both were in the Skull and Bones society [Evan Thomas and Daniel Gross, "Taxing the Super Rich," "Newsweek", July 23, 2007] [Andrew Clark, "The Guardian profile: Stephen Schwarzman," "The Guardian", June 15, 2007] ) and graduated in 1969. He then went on to Harvard Business School and graduated in 1972.

Career

Schwarzman began his career in financial services at the investment bank Lehman Brothers, where he reached the rank of managing director at age 31. He eventually became the head of Lehman Brothers' global mergers and acquisitions team. In 1985, Schwarzman and his partner Peter Peterson started Blackstone, which originally focused on mergers and acquisitions. [ http://www.blackstone.com/team/pdfs/schwarzman_stephen.pdf Blackstone.com - Team] ]

With an estimated current net worth of around $7.8 billion, Schwarzman was ranked by "Forbes" as the 53st-richest person in America in 2008. [ [http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/54/400list08_Stephen-Schwarzman_KH57.html Forbes.com - Magazine Article ] ] He lives in a large apartment at 740 Park Avenue in New York, previously owned by the Mayflower descendent George Brewster and John D. Rockefeller Jr. Schwarzman bought it from Saul Steinberg in 2000 for just under $30 million. [Gross, Michael. " [http://www.mgross.com/books/740-park/ 740 Park: The Story of the World's Richest Apartment Building.] " New York: Broadway Books, 2005.] However, an article in the "New Yorker" states that the apartment was purchased for $37 million. [Stewart, James B. " [http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/02/11/080211fa_fact_stewart Profiles: The Birthday Party: How Stephen Schwarzman became private equity's designated villain.] "]

On 13 February, 2007, Schwarzman celebrated his 60th birthday at the Armory on Park Avenue. Guests included Colin Powell, Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg, and Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York. The climax of the evening was a half-hour live performance by Rod Stewart, for which he was reportedly paid $1 million.

On June 6 2007, several financial news websites said that Schwarzman earned about $400 million (well over a million dollars per day) in fiscal 2006, and he is said to be worth over $7.7 billion in Blackstone Group stock. [Michael Flaherty, "Blackstone Co-Founders to Get $2.3 Billion Post IPO," "Reuters", June 11, 2007] This revelation was the first announcement of earnings by Blackstone, a result of an SEC filing. He received $800 million for the Blackstone IPO.

In 2007, Schwarzman was listed among Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World.Fact|date=July 2008

Schwarzman has served as an adjunct professor at the Yale School of Management and is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the [http://www.kennedy-center.org John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts] .

On March 11, 2008 Schwarzman announced that he contributed $100 million toward the expansion of the New York Public Library, for which he serves as a trustee.Fact|date=July 2008

ee also

*Skull and Bones

Additional reading

*"Greed and Glory on Wall Street—The Fall of the House of Lehman" by Ken Auletta, The Overlook Press, New York, ISBN 1-58567-088-X

References

External links

* [http://www.blackstone.com/team/pdfs/schwarzman_stephen.pdf Blackstone biography]
*Serwer, Andy, "Wall Street's Hottest Hand." "Fortune", 27 May, 2003.
* [http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID=2&subID=1494 Steve Schwarzman, man of the moment, at TheFirstPost.com]