Steve Schwarzman: Wall Street’s arch dealmaker

Steve Schwarzman has had an illustrious career in finance, while his friendship with Donald Trump has made him a pivotal figure in the US-China trade war. Yet he remains a relative unknown. Jane Lewis reports.

Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman © JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman © JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

"A most unusual manunknown to most Americans", is how the doyen of US business culture, Steve Forbes, describes Steve Schwarzman. It's a strangely amorphous introduction to the co-founder of Blackstone, one of the world's largest asset managers especially since, according to Forbes, Schwarzman's "entrepreneurial bent" has made him "the most influential" American financier "since the original J.P. Morgan".

A good locust

During the financial crisis, Schwarzman played a useful role advising the US Treasury. His international connections and longtime friendship with Donald Trump have since seen him emerge as a "back channel in US-China relations", says Lionel Barber in the Financial Times. Much in demand among peers as a "Trump whisperer", he's a prolific philanthropist who has built one of the most successful businesses on the planet. Yet Steve Schwarzman has "never quite received the credit he believes he deserves".

Schwarzman grew up in Philadelphia, the son of a Jewish shopkeeper whose lack of ambition baffled him. Schwarzman says he inherited "the right gene mix" from his mother, "a very formidable, strong survivor" who understood the power of social connections. She helped get him to Yale, where he joined the exclusive Skull and Bones secret society, and he never looked back. After Harvard Business School, he joined Lehman Brothers where he indulged his latent love of beauty and comfort by lavishly redecorating his office. "I wanted... a cocoon against all the psychological stresses of my work, like a... library in an English house".

From Lehman to Blackstone

Recommended

Who is the richest woman in the world?
People

Who is the richest woman in the world?

Francoise Bettencourt Meyers is the richest woman in the world with a fortune of $91 billion according to Bloomberg.
17 May 2023
Profile of Kwasi Kwarteng, the leading light of the Tory right
People

Profile of Kwasi Kwarteng, the leading light of the Tory right

Kwasi Kwarteng, who studied 17th-century currency policy for his doctoral thesis, has always had a keen interest in economic crises. Now he is in one …
10 Oct 2022
Yvon Chouinard: The billionaire “dirtbag” who's giving it all away
People

Yvon Chouinard: The billionaire “dirtbag” who's giving it all away

Outdoor-equipment retailer Yvon Chouinard is the latest in a line of rich benefactors to shun personal aggrandisement in favour of worthy causes.
6 Oct 2022
Johann Rupert: the Warren Buffett of luxury goods
People

Johann Rupert: the Warren Buffett of luxury goods

Johann Rupert, the presiding boss of Swiss luxury group Richemont, has seen off a challenge to his authority by a hedge fund. But his trials are not o…
26 Sep 2022

Most Popular

Best savings accounts – June 2023
Savings

Best savings accounts – June 2023

Interest rates have been creeping up - we look at the best savings accounts on the market right now.
6 Jun 2023
Nationwide to give £100 cash boost to customers
Personal finance

Nationwide to give £100 cash boost to customers

Nationwide Building Society is giving customers £100 as it reinvests profits. Dubbed the Nationwide Fairer Share scheme, we look at who is eligible.
22 May 2023
Holiday rip-off: Millions of travellers hit with hidden costs by using debit card abroad
Personal finance

Holiday rip-off: Millions of travellers hit with hidden costs by using debit card abroad

A family of four on a week-long trip to France could pay an extra £212 in fees by using their everyday bank card compared to the lowest-cost option, a…
23 May 2023