- In today’s CEO Daily: Ruth Umoh on how Blackstone selects, supports, and guides CEOs at its portfolio companies.
- The big story: Trump makes baseless accusations about the plane crash.
- The markets: Up.
- Analyst notes from BofA, Saxo, Goldman, and Wedbush.
- Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.
Good morning. As one of the world’s largest asset managers, overseeing $1.1 trillion in investments, Blackstone takes CEO appointments at its portfolio companies seriously. So seriously, in fact, that it has built an expansive network of stakeholders to guide each selection—a process I chronicled in Fortune’s February/March 2025 issue.
Unlike many Fortune 500 companies that treat CEO selection as a one-time event, Blackstone’s approach is structured and continuous, extending well beyond the CEO announcement.
“Oftentimes, boards think they have a strong 90-day onboarding plan. That is not acceleration,” says Colin Graham, head of Spencer Stuart’s global industrial practice. New and seasoned CEOs alike can stumble early in a role, and Blackstone aims to prevent that from the outset.
“Don’t declare success when you announce the appointment. Don’t stop once the press release is out,” says Courtney della Cava, senior managing director at Blackstone. “For us, that’s day one.”
Blackstone’s approach to board construction ensures a mix of experts and independent directors. It also builds the C-suite holistically, identifying areas where the CEO may need additional support, says Joe Baratta, Blackstone’s global head of private equity.
Newly appointed executives are connected with seasoned leaders within Blackstone’s ecosystem of current and former CEOs, and often paired with mentors. “You have world-class people at your fingertips,” says Doug Steenland, former Northwest Airlines CEO and a senior advisor to Blackstone.
In some cases, Blackstone appoints executive chairs to support first-time CEOs. Nigel Travis, former CEO of Dunkin’ Brands, serves as chairman at both Servpro and Tropical Smoothie Cafe. At Tropical Smoothie, he meets weekly with newly appointed CEO Max Wetzel, in addition to Blackstone-led check-ins and board meetings. With more experienced CEOs like Servpro’s Brett Ponton, meetings are less frequent but consistent.
As CEO turnover rises and tenure shortens, Blackstone’s model offers a compelling lesson: Hiring a CEO is not the finish line—it’s the beginning of a deliberate, structured process for long-term success.—Ruth Umoh.
More news below.
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady, diane.brady@fortune.com, Linkedin
TOP NEWS
Trump blames DEI and Democrats for plane crash. He did not cite any evidence for his claims. Reality check: Investigators are nowhere close to figuring out how the deadly collision between an American Airlines jet and a military helicopter happened. One issue: Whether the control tower was understaffed on the evening of the crash.
Trump’s war on Powell. The president continues to lambast the Fed chair, and Powell continues to ignore him.
Elliot warns Trump is inflating a crypto bubble. In a note to investors, hedge fund Elliott Management ($70 billion AUM) said “crypto is ground zero” for a speculative bubble because of its “perceived proximity to the White House” and because the underlying assets have “no substance.” The “inevitable collapse” … “could wreak havoc in ways we cannot yet anticipate,” the FT reported.
Paramount in settlement talks with Trump over CBS 60 Minutes lawsuit. The president had alleged CBS deceptively edited an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. Legal experts thought the claim was thin. But CBS parent Paramount wants a merger with Larry and David Ellison’s Skydance and doesn’t want Trump to block the deal.
Trump will impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting on Saturday.
Jes Staley discussed Bernie Madoff with Jeffrey Epstein. The former Barclays CEO and JP Morgan exec also asked Epstein how to get a pay rise from JPM chief Jamie Dimon, according to newly disclosed emails.
From Fortune
Where does Apple go from here?
Apple is looking for its next big product hit amid continuously slowing iPhone sales. Can the tech giant bank on its investments in AI, which some experts now say could benefit from cheap AI models like those from new Chinese startup DeepSeek, or is more innovation needed for CEO Tim Cook to keep momentum going?
Microsoft beats expectations, still sees stock sink
Microsoft stock was down almost 6% on Thursday despite beating analyst forecasts for both revenue and profit in their most recent quarter. Fortune’s Jeremy Kahn describes why the rising costs associated with the company’s Intelligent Cloud segment, combined with this week’s DeepSeek news, have shook some investors up.
Niccol’s new recipe for success
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol announced this week that the company will shed 30% of its menu offerings by September in an effort to pivot away from “overly complex” offerings. “We have to clear the noise,” Niccol told Fortune.
The markets
- The S&P 500 closed up 0.5% at 6,071.17 last night, reapproaching its all-time high. ... U.S. futures contracts were moving up pre-opening bell ... Japan and Europe are broadly up this morning ... The U.S. dollar is gaining strength against foreign currencies as investors anticipate the inflationary effect of Trump's desire for tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China, which might tip the Fed into moving interest rates higher.
From the analysts
- Bank of America on equities: “Our analysis is positive on the global cycle, based on trends in macro data, earnings forecasts, and stock-related news: This is a rosy outlook for equities and the global sectors suited to an upturn: Tech, Financials, Media, and Industrials,” per Nigel Tupper and team.
- Wedbush on Tesla: “If you are bull and believer in the AI autonomous vision for Tesla this morning those investors feel even more confident in their thesis. For the bears/skeptics solely focused on numbers and margins with no attention to the autonomous narrative they will also feel more confident in their negative thesis. Thus the Game of Thrones elongated battle continues between the bulls and bears on Tesla although we believe the autonomous/AI piece is 90% of the Tesla story today and thus speaks to our $2 trillion valuation thesis,” per Daniel Ives and team.
- Goldman Sachs on AI: “We also laid out the case in mid-2023 for an AI investment cycle reaching 2% of annual GDP, … The investment boom we forecasted has largely borne out so far, although admittedly in a much more frontloaded manner than we anticipated. AI hardware provider revenues surged by over $200bn (annualized rate) as of 2024Q4, and are projected to rise by another $125bn by end-2025,” per Jan Hatzius and team.
- Saxo on AI: “The enthusiasm around AI is still driving tech stocks, but investors are now demanding proof of execution. Microsoft is betting on AI at an unprecedented scale, but its cloud infrastructure needs to keep up with demand. Tesla is leaning on future promises, with AI-driven self-driving technology being the key to its long-term success. Meta has the strongest near-term AI success, but its spending levels remain a major concern,” per Jacob Falkencrone.
- Goldman Sachs on the Fed: “... the FOMC is not ‘in a hurry’ to cut and is hesitant to move until it knows more about what policy changes are coming from the new administration, which makes a March cut unlikely,” per Jan Hatzius et al.
AROUND THE WATERCOOLER
A peak under the hood of Elon Musk’s Tesla reveals a worrying trend—its auto business is rusting away by Christiaan Hetzner
H&M’s turnaround under its new CEO is not taking off as fast as investors hoped by Prarthana Prakash
IBM’s CEO touted DeepSeek AI as a validation of his strategy in a post-earnings victory lap as shares surge 12% by Sharon Goldman
Meta workers are quietly rebelling against Mark Zuckerberg after he eliminated DEI initiatives by bringing their own tampons to men’s bathrooms by Alena Botros
Elon Musk’s father Errol looks to monetize his famous name with ‘Musk It’ memecoin: ‘I’m the head of the family’ by Leo Schwartz
This edition of CEO Daily was curated by Joey Abrams and Jim Edwards.
