Last month, The Blackstone Group held a 25th anniversary party at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Big thank you for all of the firm’s 1,400 or so employees, from managing directors to mailroom workers (and all of their significant others).
I wasn’t invited. Neither was anyone else from the media, but a freelance journalist named Kevin Roose wanted to crash. According to his retelling in New York Magazine, Roose informed a Blackstone (BX) employee of his plans via text message, to which he got the following reply: “The whole firm will be there. You’ll blend in.”
Turns out that Blackstone was not amused. Not only be Roose’s story – which takes pot-shots at most turns – but also by the fact that one of its people would dare break Schwarzman’s circle of trust.
I’m told that Blackstone’s HR and IT departments have spent the past couple of weeks trying to sniff out the culprit. One rumor I heard was that they were successful and had fired the guy, but that is untrue.
Unclear what the eventual punishment would be (assuming conclusive evidence is uncovered), except that there would be some sort of punishment (or at least a stern talking-to). After all, why else spend time investigating.
For his part, Roose obviously isn’t naming his source. All he would tell me was that he “has lots of contacts at Blackstone and throughout the industry.”
Blackstone declined to comment.