Stephen Schwarzman managed to make the Fortune "Man of the Moment " feature and end up on the Time 100. Last year he threw himself a famously excessive birthday bash as he turned 60 on Valentine's Day.
What a difference a year makes. Over the twelve months since his little party, Schwarzman has been the target of vicious attacks in the press. He recently told The New Yorker, "How does it feel? Unattractive. No thinking person wants to be reduced to a caricature."
But, Schwarzman has not been reduced. He has been "super-sized" in the way that people who brag about how much dough they have almost always are. The very wealthy in the US rarely talk about being filthy rich. They simply give their money away a la Bill Gates or Warren Buffett. No one knows the names of the great majority of people on the Forbes 400.
Schwarzman will have a more modest birthday party this year, according to press accounts. He may be saving money to give back to shareholders who invested in Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last year. The shares hit $38 after the IPO and now trade at under $18. About $4.5 billion in shareholder value has gone down the drain. He has also been a bit hard on shareholders at other companies. Blackstone backed out of a deal to buy Alliance Data (NYSE:ADS). Those shares moved from $81 to under $56. That's another $3 billion in shareholder money gone.
Instead of whining to the press about being stomped on by people who have lost money investing in Blackstone or Blackstone-related deals, perhaps he should get a wig and sunglasses so that he can walk around unnoticed, like Greta Garbo did.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
