Bombs over Blackstone

Posted May 9th 2008 4:35PM by Tom Taulli
Filed under: Private Equity, Blackstone Group L.P (BX)

So-called "trader talk" can be pretty rough. After all, Wall Street can be stressful (especially lately).

But, when you are the CEO of a major financial services company, you are expected to keep your language PG.

Well, Steve Schwarzman -- who is the CEO of The Blackstone Group, L.P. (NYSE: BX) -- perhaps didn't get the memo. Actually, maybe he thinks he still runs a private firm.

In a recent investor conference, Schwarzman was quite colorful in describing it's aborted $1.7 billion buyout of PHH Corp. (which got ensnared in the subprime mess).

Here's his quote (according to a piece in the NY Post):

"Trying to buy a mortgage bank in the midst of the subprime crisis was the equivalent of being a noodle salesman in Nagasaki when the atomic bomb went off. Not a lot of noodles left or even a person -- and that's what happened to us on this deal."

Huh? Has Schwarzman's billions turned him tone deaf?

In our Internet age -- full of blogs and online videos -- you need to assume that everything you say will somehow become public.

The irony is that Blackstone is in the process of building out its platform in Japan.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

Tags: blackstone, nagasaki, Steve Schwarzman, SteveSchwarzman