Blackstone's Schwarzman collects US$1.1b in dividends, pay

[NEW YORK] Blackstone chief executive officer Steve Schwarzman took home US$1.1 billion in dividends and compensation in 2021, in what amounts to one of Wall Street's biggest annual payouts on record.

It was the first time that Schwarzman, 75, collected more than US$1 billion in a year. He generated US$941.6 million through dividends from his 19 per cent stake in New York-based Blackstone, according to a regulatory filing Friday. He also earned US$160.3 million from compensation, which is mostly profit tied to funds on top of a US$350,000 salary.

The haul is a reminder of how Schwarzman's grip atop the private equity giant he co-founded more than 3 decades ago provides him with both influence across global markets and a personal fortune that ranks 33rd in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

It's also a reflection of a years-long shift in finance, with Blackstone and other alternative asset managers surging past Wall Street banks in clout. Goldman Sachs Group CEO David Solomon and Morgan Stanley's James Gorman were each awarded about US$35 million for their work last year, not including any dividends. In 2020, Schwarzman made US$611 million.

Blackstone's boom year made it the envy of Wall Street. In the last quarter of 2021, Blackstone's fundraising machine gained a record amount of new money from pensions, endowments and other investors to put to work in new deals, bringing it closer to US$1 trillion in assets under management.

Blackstone cashed out of a record US$77 billion of investments as its corporate private equity and opportunistic real estate holdings rose more than 40 per cent. The influx of cash boosted earnings. Blackstone's annual dividend per share surged to US$4.06 in 2021, from US$2.26 in the previous year.

"Our compensation model is built on long-term alignment with our investors - and we are proud that in 2021 we delivered record fund appreciation and earnings performance," spokesman Matt Anderson said. President Jon Gray, Schwarzman's heir apparent, earned US$156.6 million in 2021 from compensation and an additional US$167.2 million from dividends tied to his 3 per cent stake in the firm. Neither of the two executives are paid cash bonuses.

Blackstone shares almost doubled in price last year, surging 99.7 per cent and outracing the company's publicly traded peers.

BLOOMBERG