January 28, 2016
Blackstone’s Q4 profit fell 70% compared to last year—from $1.45B to $435M—as its investments tanked during the quarter. The Q4 figures come as January’s global stock slide threatens to rout profits in Q1 ’16.
Blackstone president Tony James isn’t worried, though. “It’s just noise,” he said in a conference call today. He says the markdowns aren’t permanent and the company will get its returns, eventually.
Blackstone’s biggest public stake, Hilton Worldwide Holdings, has seen a 22% decline, amounting to a $2.3B loss for the asset manager. As oil prices have dropped, Blackstone’s oil unit, GSO Capital, took the hardest hit of all its branches, with profits plunging a whopping 87%. [Bloomberg]
