bloggingbuyouts

The Blackstone Group LP IPO, which was filed for yesterday, has been top-of-mind in BloggingBuyouts world for weeks as we wondered, wondered, wondered ... would the firm file? Would we actually learn anything from said filing? Now that we've had a chance to look at the S-1 and review some of the coverage, all I can think is oh God I wish I was in the financial group at Morgan Stanley or Merrill Lynch! How fun would it be to work on this sexiest-of-all-sexy IPOs? If you don't know, don't answer.

Let's face it: we all want to know (more than anything) about the giant-of-private-equity, Stephen Schwarzman. We want to know how much money he really makes (after all, he had Rod Stewart sing at his recent 60th birthday party). We're trying to figure out why he announces publicly that the public markets are over-rated only weeks before he put his signature on his firm's S-1. And just how does the firm justify turning to the public markets when it's probably never been easier to raise cash from investors?

Even more fascinating, though, are the less-public figures also leading the firm: 80-year-old co-founder Peter G. Peterson who worked for, among others, Richard Nixon and Lehman Brothers; and the so-called rainmaker, Hamilton "Tony" James who doesn't even golf. And how about this guy, formerly of Blackstone: David Stockman, who's rumored to be about-to-be-indicted for his fuzzy math at Collins & Aikman.

The rumors were true! Today at the market's close, Blackstone Group LP filed with the SEC to raise up to $4 billion in an IPO. The S-1 is huge and full of all kinds of little juicy details that I'm sure we'll be analyzing in depth over the coming weeks. I can't wait to read the clause entitled "Firm Use of Our Founders' Private Aircraft."

However, until further examination, we can't answer the most important question asked earlier today: how much does founder, chairman and CEO Stephen Schwarzman make? He and other important officers actually don't draw salaries or bonuses and are instead paid out cash distributions of the firm's investment gains each year. How much were they paid for 2006? That part is blank, in all likelihood because it hasn't yet been paid out for the year (although I'd be willing to lay odds the management team knows how much they made in 2006). Crafty! [Update: Deal Journal's Dana Cimilucca was sharper-eyed than I and found one nugget: following the offering, Schwarzman will draw a modest, Warren-Buffett-sized salary of $350,000. Our original question -- what does Schwarzman make today? -- is still unanswered.]

The huge potential amount of the IPO will certainly make for interesting philosophical discussions over the next few months. Oh, and we have one more question to answer: which banks lead the deal? Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are the guys with top billing; Merrill Lynch & Co, Credit Suisse, Lehman Brothers and Deustche Bank Securities round out the group making millions in fees on Blackstone's coming march to the public markets.