Blackstone - What it Took

Private Credit and the Opportunity Ahead

From $400k and two guys to $1T+

Blackstone starts in 1985 as a tiny M&A advisory shop launched by Stephen Schwarzman and Pete Peterson with roughly $400k of their own capital and two employees. The backdrop is peak LBO era: cheap-ish credit, a merger‑friendly environment, and a lot of complacent corporate balance sheets.

Very quickly it stops being “just”…