King of Capital

The Remarkable Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Steve Schwarzman and Blackstone

By: John E. Morris, David Carey

Narrated by: George K. Wilson

The financial establishment---banks and investment bankers, such as Citigroup, Bear Stearns, Lehman, UBS, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley---were the cowboys, recklessly assuming risks, leveraging up to astronomical levels, and driving the economy to the brink of disaster. In King of Capital, David Carey and John E. Morris show how Blackstone (and other private equity firms) transformed themselves from gamblers, hostile-takeover artists, and "barbarians at the gate" into disciplined, risk-conscious investors. This is the greatest untold success story on Wall Street. Not only have Blackstone and a small coterie of competitors wrested control of corporations around the globe, but they have emerged as a major force on Wall Street, challenging the likes of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley for dominance. And since it is sitting on billions of dollars that can be invested at a time when the market is starved for capital, Blackstone is now ready to break out once again.

Insightful and hard-hitting, King of Capital is filled with never-before-revealed details about the workings of a heretofore secretive company that was the personal fiefdom of Steve Schwarzman and Peter Peterson. A great human interest story, as well, it tells how Blackstone went from two guys and a secretary to being one of Wall Street's most powerful institutions---far outgrowing its much older rival KKR---and how Schwarzman, with a pay packet one year of $398 million and $684 million from the Blackstone IPO, came to epitomize the spectacular new financial fortunes amassed in the 2000s.

©2010 David Carey and John E. Morris (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

"[ King of Capital] ranks as one of the most even-handed treatments of the industry." ( Bloomberg Brief: Merger)

Great inside look at PE life

Enjoyed the inside stories and the variety of content in each chapter. The reader was good as well.

Fair and informative

This was exactly what I was hoping: a solid and well researched history of the company and industry with enough details to make it informative but without an excess of unexplained jargon.

How the World works

Wether you like it or not this is the story of how our world is organized.

Understanding this makes a lot of what you see every day make sense.

Can't make it through

Would you try another book from John E. Morris and David Carey and/or George K. Wilson?

I'm not sure who thought it would be a good idea to have the reader for this book, but it was an incredibly bad idea. This will an audible first for me, but I've decided to not continue wit this book because I just can't follow the reader. He speaks in an incredibly slow cadence like he's telling some kind of fairy tale. He should not be narrating business books.

Very complete story of Blackstone vs. rest of PE

If you could sum up King of Capital in three words, what would they be?

Inside private equity

What did you like best about this story?

The details about how many of the deals were structured and the thought processes behind them.

What about George K. Wilson’s performance did you like?

Indifferent to Wilson's performance, but I can say that I listened to it on 1.5x and I have no complaints on his style.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

A great read for anyone who wants to learn more about Schwarzman, Blackstone, and private equity in general.