Monday, February 13, 2017

Blackstone's Schwarzman's 70th Birthday Extravaganza


The pre-party anticipation in South Florida included:
What promises to be the exceeding lavish 70th birthday party of billionaire Stephen A. Schwarzman the following weekend.

Schwarzman, the CEO and co-founder of the top private-equity Blackstone Group, is worth $11.6 billion and was recently appointed to head Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum, comprised of other titans of industry who’ve made outsourcing American jobs a point of pride.

So it’ll likely be a powerful crowd who come to sing the septuagenarian Happy Birthday
And it was a private equity filled event according to Bloomberg:

Representing President Trump’s sphere were daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner and incoming cabinet members Steve Mnuchin, Wilbur Ross and Elaine Chao. Bank bosses included Jes Staley of Barclays and Michael Corbat of Citigroup. Investing titans Henry Kravis, David Rubenstein and Howard Marks paid respects.
Thrive Capital, Dune Capital Management, Invesco, KKR, The Carlyle Group and Oaktree Capital were all represented at the Blackstone celebration.

Flash back a decade:


"We know Trump and Melania attended Schwarzman’s uber luxurious 60th birthday bash in New York ten years ago that was called “the beginning of the end of Wall Street’s gilded age.
That's the longest beginning of the end as the 70th remained uber luxurious:

There were camels in the sand, a gondolier in the pool and a giant birthday cake in the shape of a Chinese temple -- with Gwen Stefani on hand to help sing Happy Birthday at midnight.
One private equity underwriter (PEU) reveled in the event:
 
“The world is an uncertain place, a lot of people are unhappy with a lot of other people, there are a lot of things that people are upset about,” said Oaktree Capital’s Marks. “So it’s nice to have an evening where everybody’s happy, harmonious and upbeat.”
Life in PEU land.