Stephen Schwarzman, the private-equity king, may have just set a new standard for wealth denial. In a revealing profile by Jim Stewart in the latest New Yorker, Mr. Schwarzman is asked about his recent displays of excess — the over-the-top birthday party at the Armory, his $37 million apartment in New York, his tear-down estate in Florida, the $34 million place in the Hamptons and so on. His lifestyle and sudden riches ($8 billion on the day Blackstone went public) turned him into what Mr. Stewart calls “the designated villain of an era on Wall Street.†Mr. Stewart asks him how it felt to be the object of so much negative attention. Mr. Schwarzman’s responds with wealth denial.
"I don't feel like a wealthy person,he says. Other people think of me as a wealthy person, but I don't. I feel the same as when I was a fifth-year associate trying to make partner at Lehman. I haven't changed. I'm always still trying." Maybe this is a case of his self-image lagging his fortune. But people with modest self-images don't usually hold parties in the Park Avenue Armory featuring Rod Stewart, Martin Short and a huge self-portrait.
Message to Mr. Schwarzman: you'e rich. As in Forbes list rich. As in, your grandkids-won't-ever-have-to-work rich.
And being that rich comes with lots of public attention on your actions (and your quotes).
Posts filed under Finance
Pier Loans
These would be known as Pier Loans, or a "bridge to nowhere"
A new problem is rippling through credit markets: Many of the corporate loans used to finance giant buyouts in the past few years are reeling in secondary market trading, making it virtually impossible for banks to unload other commitments they have made.
The loans of First Data Corp., which was taken private in September by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for about $28 billion, were sold into the market this past fall at a 4% discount to their par value; they now trade in the market at a steep 11.5% discount to par value, according to Reuters LPC.
Double-digit declines in the market value of these loans are very unusual, and a big problem for many banks, which sit on a pipeline of $152 billion in loans that they have promised to make but have yet to sell to investors.
With the prices of existing loans tumbling, investors have little incentive to buy new loans unless they are sold at steep discounts, something banks are reluctant to do.
The result: More assets building up on bank balance sheets, growing tensions among rival bankers who had grown accustomed during the buyout boom to cooperating with each other and a deepening crisis in the market for buyout debt.
125 bps and counting
In January, we predicted a 100% likelihood of a 100bps cut this year and a 60% likelihood of a 200bps cut. As of Jan 31, we are at 125bps....
Sales of New Homes Fell by 26% in 2007
Sales of new homes fell last by 26 percent, the steepest drop since records began in 1963, the Commerce Department said on Monday.