Blackstone Q1 earnings rise 25%

Blackstone earnings rose 25% to US$1.76 billion in the quarter ended March quarter, beating estimates.

The firm said it deployed nearly US$36 billion and drew US$68.5 billion of capital.

Private equity distributable earnings rose 75% to US$985 million while credit and insurance earnings fell 26% to US$373 million.

BCRED allowed US$3.8 billion of redemptions last month, or 7.9% of net assets, and Blackstone shares fell as much as 5.4%.

Blackstone has filed documents for nine IPOs across the US, Europe, and Asia.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Blackstone’s private equity performance has stayed strong as it bets on the physical systems behind AI 1.
This “picks and shovels” strategy focuses on data centers, the electricity they need, and graphics processing unit (GPU) infrastructure providers instead of only AI software companies 1.
Blackstone bought QTS Data Centers, a data center operator, in 2021 2. Since then, leased capacity has risen 14-fold. QTS now makes up 20.4% of the real estate asset value of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT), a Blackstone property investment vehicle 2.
The firm says power is a bottleneck. Waits for new grid connections now run 7 to 10 years in large US data center markets. That raises barriers to entry and favors firms with scale plus energy-market expertise 3.

Blackstone’s push fits a broader move in private equity. Firms are becoming owners and financiers of capital-heavy assets such as data centers and power systems 3.
Deep capital helps firms work through hurdles like securing electricity. That can place more control of the digital economy’s foundation in fewer hands 3.
In the AI era, many infrastructure landlords will be large asset managers.
Businesses that need huge computing capacity will rent from facilities these firms own. Owners can cut risk by locking in pre-leases with strong customers on long contracts before construction starts 3.