Blackstone Inc at Bank of America Financial Services Conference Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Craig Siegenthaler - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Michael, let's start with the macro. You have a very large portfolio across different industries, different geographies. It's always helpful to provide us insights in terms of what you're seeing, including around growth. So what is the state of the macro environment today? And where do you think we're heading in 2025.

Question: Craig Siegenthaler - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Great. So I wanted to go a little deeper on the transaction side of this. So a lot of us are expecting an upward trajectory and transaction activity on both the investing realization side. What's your outlook for deployment this year? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. FEBRUARY 11, 2025 / 3:30PM, BX.N - Blackstone Inc at Bank of America Financial Services Conference

Question: Craig Siegenthaler - BofA Global Research - Analyst : I wanted to talk about the interest rate impact. We obviously had a very large increase in the 10-year and the fourth quarter. Last year also private credit was very strong in the fundraising front. Do you expect a rotation into the equity side of the business, private equity, infra equity, real estate equity?

Question: Craig Siegenthaler - BofA Global Research - Analyst : So how does this impact your overall fundraising expectations for 2025?

Question: Craig Siegenthaler - BofA Global Research - Analyst : So you're right, I do want to hit on the individual investor business. Blackstone is number one in this business globally. There's a very large gap to number two. Your model has been to launch these large I'll call them category killers from BREIT, BCRED, BXPE. So my question is, what's next? And then also, if I look at distribution around the world, to me, look very strong. Are there any gaps there remaining?

Question: Craig Siegenthaler - BofA Global Research - Analyst : So after the election November, we've had a big pickup in inbound on the retirement channel and the potential for private to break in. So what do we need to see from the regulatory front. And what is Blackstone's perspective on this topic? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. FEBRUARY 11, 2025 / 3:30PM, BX.N - Blackstone Inc at Bank of America Financial Services Conference

Question: Craig Siegenthaler - BofA Global Research - Analyst : So I wanted to move into the insurance channel. You've created a business model that's very different than some of your large peers. You have zero liabilities. It's capital light. It's very diverse for IM agreements with third-party lifecos. I think 23 SMAs as of the end of fourth quarter as you keep growing that number. How does your model position you for growth globally? And how really -- what are your real competitive advantages versus the captive models that some of the other alt managers employ today?

Question: Craig Siegenthaler - BofA Global Research - Analyst : So post the election, there's prospects out there for broad deregulation or at least less restrictive regulation on financial services. I'm curious on what this could mean between some of the competitive forces between the alt manager industry and the banks. If the banks compete more aggressively, are there any areas that you think are potentially at risk or are there some areas where you think are very highly defensible, potentially never going back to the banks?

Question: Craig Siegenthaler - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Michael, you guys have built a very big digital infra business. I think you got about $80 billion invested today.

Question: Craig Siegenthaler - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Data centers, pipeline is even bigger. So my question is, we had some news a couple of weeks ago with the Deepseek R1 launch. I was surprised how quickly some of the markets moved on that. I wanted your perspective on this. Did that change anything? Is this still a really attractive segment?

Question: Craig Siegenthaler - BofA Global Research - Analyst : So Michael, let's stick with AI technology. You have many roles at Blackstone, but one of them is you oversee technology. So I wanted to see if you could talk about how the firm thinks about implementing new technologies, whether it's artificial intelligence, maybe Web 3. Maybe you can talk about what you're working on.

Question: Craig Siegenthaler - BofA Global Research - Analyst : I want to ask a question on the firm's culture. It's something that's very hard to quantify. But I think it is maybe a little bit of a special sauce at Blackstone. You had a strong leader in Steve Schwarzman for a very long time. I think Tony James joined around 2005. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. FEBRUARY 11, 2025 / 3:30PM, BX.N - Blackstone Inc at Bank of America Financial Services Conference

Question: Craig Siegenthaler - BofA Global Research - Analyst : And also, John Gray came up in the firm with you. Now you're seeing some of his style there. What is special about Blackstone's culture? I mean what I can see is you attract a lot of great talent and you don't really lose people.