Blackstone’s Schwarzman tops 2014 private equity earnings

February 28, 2015, 1:25 AM UTC
Stephen Schwarzman, CEO and co-founder of Blackstone
Stephen Schwarzman, CEO and co-founder of Blackstone, at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, D.C. in August 2014.
Photograph by Alex Wong—Getty Images

(Reuters) – Blackstone Group Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman took home $690 million in 2014, more than any other private equity executive, as his firm and the wider industry benefited from the favorable conditions for cashing out on investments.

Schwarzman’s personal earnings were up 52 percent year-on-year, reflecting the bumper year his firm had by selling assets at high valuations. Blackstone’s distributable earnings were $3.1 billion in 2014, up from $1.9 billion in 2013.

Schwarzman, 68, received $85.9 million in compensation, $570 million in dividends from his Blackstone shares (BX), and $33.5 million from his investments in Blackstone funds in 2014, a regulatory filing showed on Friday. His net worth is currently pegged by Forbes at $12 billion.

Trailing Schwarzman was Leon Black, the CEO of Apollo Global Management LLC. In 2014, Black, 63, received almost $331 million, made up of $273,980 in compensation, $267.9 million in dividends from shares and $62.4 million from his investments in Apollo funds, another filing showed on Friday. Black’s net worth is $5.2 billion, according to Forbes.

Carlyle Group LP’s founders each received at least $95.4 million from pay and dividends and at least another $132 million from their personal investments in the firm’s funds, a filing showed on Thursday.

David Rubenstein, William Conway and Daniel D’Aniello, who founded Washington, D.C.-based Carlyle in 1987, received $98.2 million, $95.1 million and $95.1 million in dividends respectively in 2014 from their Carlyle shares.

Rubenstein also received $132.3 million, Conway $247.7 million and D’Aniello $133.8 million from Carlyle’s funds in 2014 as a result of investing alongside the firm’s clients. Each of the three of them has a net worth of $2.8 billion, according to Forbes.

KKR & Co co-founders Henry Kravis and George Roberts took home $219.7 million and $229.1 million, respectively, a filing showed on Friday.

Kravis, 71, received $64.5 million in compensation plus $155.3 million in dividends from KKR shares (KKR), while Roberts, also 71, took home $64.4 million in compensation plus $164.8 million in dividends from KKR shares. Their net worth is pegged by Forbes at $5 billion each.

The four private equity firms do not break down how much of the capital returned to their founders as a result of their personal investments in their funds is profit and how much is capital invested.

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