“We're a Big Mid-Market Fund” and Other Head-Scratchers From the Blackstone’s Earnings Call
Following Dan’s liveblog of this morning’s Blackstone Q2 earnings call for media, I sat in on the much longer analyst call. Even though Blackstone’s improved performance last quarter blew analyst’s expectations out of the water (despite reporting a loss), I hung up scratching my head at a few of the statements from CEO Steve Schwarzman and COO Tony James. For example—did you know Blackstone was a middle market firm? They’ve been saying this for a while now (at least, since the mega-market died), and today Schwarzman emphasized it again in his opening remarks: Debt financing remains scarce but we can still get funding for good companies and middle market companies generally, which is our sweet spot. Later, James echoed that sentiment while he distinguished Blackstone from other mega-firms.
