Stephen Schwarzman
KEY THREATS:
Housing Crisis Profiteer Far-Right Financier A.I. Profiteer Good Job Destroyer As the CEO of one of the world’s largest and cartoonishly evil private equity firms, it’s not enough that Blackstone is one of the reasons rents are so high and healthcare is getting worse.
He’s also tacky.
For his 60th birthday in 2007, Schwarzman threw himself a $3 million birthday party complete with performances by Rod Stewart and Patti LaBelle, “orchids scattered everywhere,” and a large portrait of himself. In 2017, he upped the ante with a Silk-Road themed $10 million birthday party featuring “camels, Mongolian greeters, a custom-built temple and a performance by Gwen Stefani,” reported Market Watch. Back in 2007, he also prohibited an employee in his 11,000 square foot Palm Beach mansion from wearing rubber-soled shoes because they make squeaking noises which he found distracting.
Not content with ruining America’s businesses, Schwarzman is also a Republican mega donor and a key corporate ally to Trump whom the Blackstone billionaire has donated to and endorsed, and invited to his aforementioned birthday party. Which makes sense - between their flamboyance, hate for taxes, and need to always be the biggest man in the room, they are birds of a feather.
NET WORTH
CEO
Blackstone
OTHER COMPANIES
LINKED TO
Donald Trump
AGE
79
STATE
New York
PART OF
Controversies
- Claimed that an Obama-era proposal to tax carried interest as ordinary income tax was akin to “when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939.”
- ProPublica investigations have highlighted Schwarzman for taking advantage of tax loopholes for the ultra-wealthy.
- In 2006, Blackstone and billionaire-backed private equity firm Apollo Global Management took stakes in Momentive, a chemical company headquartered in upstate New York. According to a commentary in the Times Union, these investors used the private equity playbook of slashing pay, outsourcing jobs, cutting healthcare, and freezing pensions. The company ultimately declared bankruptcy in 2014. In 2017, workers fought back with a 105 day strike.
Obscene Spending
- Schwarzman’s personal real estate portfolio includes a Newport, Rhode Island mansion purchased for $27 million that he plans to turn into a museum after his death
- Spent $3,000 for a weekend of food for just him and his wife, including stone crabs that cost $400, or $40 per claw
Reputation Laundering
- Donated $150 million to Yale in 2015 to establish a campus center called “The Schwarzman Center.”
- Donated $350 million in 2018 to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for “The Schwarzman College of Computing,” focused on AI.
Enabling:
Private Equity Apocalypse
A rebrand of what used to be called “corporate raiding” or “asset stripping,” private equity firms exploded after the 2008 financial crisis, infiltrating aspects of everyday life ranging from doctors’ practices to newspapers to ambulance companies to public water systems to clothing retailers. As one of the largest and most active private equity firms in the world, Blackstone is emblematic of the dangers that private equity poses to basic economic dignity.
Blackstone is also poised to profit from A.I. through pouring money into data center expansion and other elements of the AI supply chain. On an April 2026 investor call, Schwarzman said, “Blackstone has become the largest investor in AI-related infrastructure in the world.”
Housing Crisis
Blackstone has a particularly strong grip on the real estate and housing market. In 2022, Blackstone was reported to be the biggest commercial landlord in history and since at least 2023 it has ranked among the biggest residential landlords in the U.S. All across the country, Blackstone has bought up housing, increased rents, and evicted tenants. In 2019, the United Nations accused Blackstone of contributing to a global housing crisis. In 2025, a Blackstone portfolio company was sued by the Department of Justice, which the DOJ alleged was one of six corporate landlords that “participated in a scheme to set their rents using each other’s competitively sensitive information through common pricing algorithms.” They settled in 2025.
Trump Administration
After Trump was first elected, when many CEOs were wary of him, he called Schwarzman and asked him to chair a panel of CEO advisors. Schwarzman agreed and has maintained a close relationship with Trump, serving as an advisor on policies including the 2017 Republican corporate tax cuts. Schwarzman told a high-ranking Canadian government official, “Donald listens to me because I’m richer than Donald.” Despite some tensions in their relationship due to Trump’s handling of the 2017 white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, Schwarzman gave millions of dollars to a pro-Trump super PAC in 2020 and endorsed him in 2024. He has served as a go-between in Trump’s negotiations with Harvard, as the administration attempts to impose more conservative values on the university.
