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BX, Blackstone Inc.
Blackstone is an alternative asset manager. It raises money from institutions and individuals, pools it into funds, and invests that capital across real estate, private equity, credit and insurance, and other strategies. It earns a management fee on the money it oversees, and a share of the profits when its funds do well.
The business
What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.
Next report By 11/8 · the 10-Q for the quarter ended late September · due within 40 days of period end · has filed ~38 days after · the wire records it on arrival
The business in brief
read the 10-K →What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.
- What moves the needle
- The question that governs this business is whether a brand and a track record can keep pulling in capital that stays locked up for years, at fees that hold. Watch the fee rate against an industry the filing itself calls intensely competitive: fee compression is the quiet way a manager like this decays, and weak investment results would starve the next fund. Watch too that both raising money and harvesting the profit share lean on the mood of the markets, which the company concedes makes the composition of its revenue swing with the cycle — in a long drought, the fundraising stalls and the performance fees do not arrive. The record below carries the margins, the assets it oversees, and whether it leans on borrowed money.
- Is it a good business?
- Operating margin has run at the high end of fee-business margins across the record (median 46%, above 25% in 10 of 10 years), the economics of a business that takes a cut without carrying the risk. It earns this on little capital, so return on equity has run near 23%, the leverage of a model that needs almost no plant to grow. A high return that does not fade can mark a moat, but whether the assets stay (net flows, not last year's market) is what the flow disclosures and the 10-K settle, not the multiple.
Drafted from the company's filings and reviewed by hand; every number is shown in full in the sections below.
The record
Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.
The record, 2016–2025
realized figures from each filing · older years to the left| 2016’16 | 2017’17 | 2018’18 | 2019’19 | 2020’20 | 2021’21 | 2022’22 | 2023’23 | 2024’24 | 2025’25 | TTMTTMJun 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | |||||||||||
| $5.1B | $7.1B | $6.8B | $7.3B | $6.1B | $22.6B | $8.5B | $8.0B | $13.2B | $14.5B | $16.1B | RevenueRevenue |
| 42.7% | 47.5% | 48.6% | 46.0% | 43.0% | 58.0% | 41.6% | 37.9% | 48.5% | 46.7% | 47.2% | Operating marginOp. mgn |
| 20.2% | 20.6% | 22.6% | 27.9% | 17.1% | 25.9% | 20.5% | 17.3% | 21.0% | 20.9% | 21.8% | Net marginNet mgn |
| $2.4B | $4.1B | $3.5B | $3.8B | $2.6B | $13.6B | $3.5B | $3.0B | $6.5B | $7.2B | — | Pretax incomePretax |
| $1.0B | $1.5B | $1.5B | $2.0B | $1.0B | $5.9B | $1.7B | $1.4B | $2.8B | $3.0B | $3.5B | Net incomeNet inc. |
| 6% | 18% | 7% | -1% | 14% | 9% | 14% | 17% | 16% | 16% | 26% | Effective tax rateTax rate |
| Cash flow & returns | |||||||||||
| ($110M) | ($1.7B) | $27M | $1.9B | $1.9B | $3.9B | $6.3B | $4.0B | $3.4B | $4.5B | $5.5B | Owner earningsOwner earn. |
| ($22M) | ($193M) | ($117M) | ($60M) | ($167M) | ($64M) | ($235M) | ($230M) | ($61M) | ($116M) | — | Investing cash flowInv. cash |
| $570M | $2.8B | ($1.3B) | ($1.9B) | ($2.2B) | ($3.8B) | ($3.8B) | ($5.1B) | ($4.5B) | ($3.9B) | — | Financing cash flowFin. cash |
| ($34M) | $124M | $10M | ($3M) | $16M | ($10M) | ($12M) | $5M | ($15M) | $10M | — | Exchange-rate effectFX |
| $426M | $1.1B | ($1.4B) | ($22M) | ($459M) | $135M | $2.3B | ($1.2B) | ($1.1B) | $678M | — | Change in cashΔ cash |
| 16% | 22% | 24% | 29% | 16% | 62% | 23% | 20% | 34% | 35% | 39% | Return on equityROE |
| −15% | −21% | −24% | −5% | −20% | 13% | −62% | −42% | −20% | −35% | −32% | Retained to equityRetained/eq |
| Balance sheet | |||||||||||
| $26.4B | $34.4B | $28.9B | $32.6B | $26.3B | $41.2B | $42.5B | $40.3B | $43.5B | $47.7B | $49.9B | Total assetsAssets |
| $1.8B | $2.0B | $2.2B | $2.2B | $2.0B | $2.1B | $4.3B | $3.0B | $2.0B | $2.6B | $2.5B | Cash & investmentsCash+inv |
| $13.9B | $20.7B | $15.2B | $17.5B | $11.7B | $19.5B | $22.8B | $22.2B | $24.0B | $25.8B | — | Total liabilitiesTotal liab. |
| $185M | $211M | $142M | $88M | $65M | $68M | $1.7B | $1.2B | $801M | $1.4B | — | Redeemable interestsRedeemable |
| $6.5B | $6.6B | $6.4B | $7.0B | $6.7B | $9.4B | $7.7B | $6.8B | $8.2B | $8.7B | $9.0B | Shareholders’ equityEquity |
| Per share | |||||||||||
| 1.20B | 666M | 1.21B | 676M | 697M | 720M | 741M | 755M | 767M | 780M | 793M | Shares out (diluted)Shares |
| $4.31 | $10.72 | $5.66 | $10.85 | $8.75 | $31.35 | $11.50 | $10.62 | $17.26 | $18.52 | $20.31 | Revenue / shareRev/sh |
| $0.87 | $2.21 | $1.28 | $3.03 | $1.50 | $8.13 | $2.36 | $1.84 | $3.62 | $3.87 | $4.44 | EPS (diluted)EPS |
| $-0.09 | $-2.48 | $0.02 | $2.86 | $2.73 | $5.45 | $8.46 | $5.25 | $4.46 | $5.83 | $6.92 | Owner earnings / shareOE/sh |
| $1.69 | $4.27 | $2.52 | $3.54 | $3.42 | $6.39 | $8.80 | $5.65 | $5.77 | $7.71 | $8.05 | Dividends / shareDiv/sh |
| $5.41 | $9.96 | $5.29 | $10.37 | $9.54 | $13.09 | $10.33 | $9.02 | $10.71 | $11.11 | $11.37 | Book value / shareBVPS |
The diluted share count moved ×1/1.79 into 2017 — shares retired, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.
The diluted share count moved ×1.81 into 2018 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.
The diluted share count moved ×1/1.79 into 2019 — shares retired, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.
| 9-yr | 5-yr | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue / share | +17.6%/yr | +16.2%/yr |
| Owner earnings / share | — | +16.4%/yr |
| EPS | +18.0%/yr | +20.9%/yr |
| Dividends / share | +18.4%/yr | +17.6%/yr |
| Capital spending / share | +26.2%/yr | −1.5%/yr |
| Book value / share | +8.3%/yr | +3.1%/yr |
Quality & stewardship
Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.
Owner’s Scorecard
Is it a good business?
- Operating margin 46.7%Wide fee margin (≥30%)Operating income $6.7B ÷ revenue $14.5BIndustry peers: median 22%
What this means
The heart of a asset manager: how much of each fee dollar survives the cost of running the business. Fees ride on assets under management, so the swing factors are net flows in or out and the market's move on the assets already there; the cost base is largely fixed, which lifts margins in a bull market and squeezes them in a bear one. A high margin held for years, through a market it does not control, is the operational mark of a real franchise.
- Net margin 20.9%WideNet income $3.0B ÷ revenue $14.5B
What this means
What reaches the owner after tax and interest. For a capital-light fee business this should be a wide share of revenue; when it is thin despite a high operating margin, debt taken on for acquisitions is usually the reason, so read it next to the balance sheet.
- Return on equity 35%Very high (≥25%)Net income $3.0B ÷ equity $8.7BIndustry peers: median 14%
What this means
Because the business ties up little capital, a healthy fee stream throws off a high return on the equity behind it. Read it with the buyback record: returning capital lifts this ratio honestly, but heavy debt taken to do so can flatter it.
All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.
Management, ownership & pay
From the proxy: how much of the business the people running it own, and how they are paid.
- Stock-based compensation$1.4B
The slice of the business handed to employees in shares in fiscal 2025, 10.0% of revenue, equal to 21.4% of operating profit. Buffett's oldest accounting fight: this is compensation, compensation is an expense, real whether or not the headline earnings admit it. One trap: the cash-flow statement adds SBC back, so the operating cash, and the owner earnings drawn from it, are flattered by exactly this amount; counted as the cost it is, what an owner keeps is lower.
Peers, Capital Markets & Asset Management
The same industry, side by side on fee margins. Each column names the period it is read over; the group median at the foot is the line to read each figure against.
| Company | Revenuelatest FY, USD | Op. marginmedian over the record | Net marginmedian over the record | ROEmedian over the record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| APOApollo Global Management | $32.0B | 13.8% | 13.2% | 21% |
| KKRKKR & Co. Inc. | $19.5B | 75.8% | 28.6% | 14% |
| AMPAmeriprise Financial Inc. | $18.5B | 20.1% | 16.4% | 46% |
| BXBlackstone Inc. | $14.5B | 46.3% | 20.7% | 23% |
| BENFranklin Resources Inc. | $8.8B | 21.8% | 15.0% | 10% |
| TROWT. Rowe Price Group Inc. | $7.3B | 41.5% | 30.2% | 25% |
| IVZInvesco | $6.4B | 18.4% | 10.3% | 4% |
| CGCarlyle Group | $4.8B | 23.5% | 11.6% | 12% |
| Group median | — | 22.7% | 15.7% | 17% |
The price
What a price has to assume.
What the price implies
reverse-DCFType today's close and see the owner-earnings growth you'd have to believe to justify it, beside what Blackstone Inc. has delivered.
Blackstone Inc.’s latest year runs above its own through-cycle margin — the reported figure may flatter a peak. So the tool opens on the through-cycle base, Graham’s averaging cutting both ways; clear the toggle below to read the latest year exactly as reported.
Through the cycle, Blackstone Inc. earns about $3.8B on its 26.1% median owner-earnings margin. This year’s 31.5% margin runs above that; the reported figure may flatter a peak you'd be paying on. Normalize, below, values the price on that through-cycle figure rather than the latest year. It comes pre-checked here for that reason, the same rule that already normalizes a trough; clear it to price the year as filed.
—
9.0% = the 4.71% 10-year Treasury (Aug 18, 2026) + 4.29 points of equity premium. The rate you require is yours to set.
Enter a price above to run it.
A dated snapshot of the price you typed, the assumptions you set, and what the page showed for them. A snapshot is never edited after it is saved. Your notebook is yours alone — the commitment states what is stored and what we will never do.
Graham capped the multiple at 15×; Buffett and Munger let that rule go: a wonderful business can deserve 50× if the thesis holds. The gate marks the bargain-hunter's floor.
Prefilled with the 10-year Treasury (4.71%, as of Aug 18, 2026). Edit it for today’s exact figure, or a AAA corporate yield.
Graham measured a stock against the bond you could own instead, the heart of his margin of safety. Enter a price above to weigh the owner-earnings yield against this bond.
Owner earnings $5.5B on 751M shares outstanding, per the 10-Q cover, as of 2026-07-31; net debt $10.8B. The if-converted diluted count is 793M, 6% above the shares outstanding: the dilution overhang (convertibles, options) a buyer inherits. The base opens on the through-cycle figure (the latest year sits above the record’s own median, and Graham’s averaging cuts both ways); clear Normalize to use the year as filed. Net of stock comp treats option pay as the expense it is. The dials set the multiple a growth belief justifies; the price, and every dollar on this page, is yours.
Manual order: ← BWXT its page in the Manual BXC →
Industry order: ← BULLW the Capital Markets & Asset Management chapter CAN →