The Fascinating Story of Steve Schwarzman and Blackstone's Incredible Journey to the Top of Wall Street: King of Capital

MOHAN MURUGIAN: KING OF CAPITAL is written for everyone, in simple language without the financial jargons. It is organized in progressive chapters and gives the readers greater appreciation on the industry and the two men behind it all. Entertaining and insightful reading.

Singapore on Sep 25, 2023

Adriano Duarte: Interessante, pois traz fatos sobre como acontecem as coisas por trás de grandes empresas e decisões sobre aquisições e investimentos.

Brazil on Sep 15, 2023

Shopper: Good read for entertainment.

United States on Sep 05, 2023

Dhruv A.: good light read on private equity- how it works and how it evolved.
Good for people in business, entrepreneurs and for students.

India on Oct 03, 2022

Matt Mky: Super well-written book with great insights into the deal-making process of some
of the largest PE Shops.

One critique is that the book is super "factual" and kind of jumps around from Blackstone's deals to competitors, spitting out deal after deal. As such, it kind of feels dry after 300 pages.

I would have appreciated more insights into the life, thought process and struggles (mental, psychological, etc.) of some of these PE bosses. It instead felt like a well-narrated list of a several dozen deals.

Canada on Jan 21, 2021

Sam Lawhon: The author does a wonderful job of leading the reader through this story of one of the private equity greats, while also delving deep into the world of private equity. I wish the author would have spent a little more time on Mr. Schwarzman's life. Nonetheless, it was fascinating to dig into the story of Blackstone.

A few takeaways:
-Focus on what you do well. There will always be other opportunities and people may very well capitalize on them. It doesn't mean you will
-Private equity certainly has a role in the markets, though that has changed over time
-"If we don't reinvent ourselves, we're dead" -Scharzman
-Just because you can give someone money, even lots of it doesn't make you special. The key is to be able to differentiate yourself from all the other people throwing money around

United States on Jan 03, 2020

Brian LaRocca: If you are looking for a history of the company and its rise to the forefront of Wall Street titans, this is the book. The authors had incredible access such as two years of interviews with Schwarzman himself. They exhaustively go through each deal, the personalities behind them, the infighting and the external negotiations that allowed Blackstone to separate itself from the rest of the pack. Considering the privileged access, I thought the authors criticized the firm and its leaders when appropriate.

If you are looking for more of a general finance book or a thrilling read, this is not that book. Barbarians at the Gate is better for pure entertainment. Do not expect the same sort of roller coaster here but do expect a well written and comprehensive summary of the good and the bad within the company.

I also do like the authors' strong defense of private equity in general. They do write for a publication called The Deal so they are biased but they provide coherent and important arguments showing the importance of strong investor control in the functioning of well managed companies.

United States on Dec 06, 2018

Hawkeye: I purchased this book to better understand more about private equity (PE) after I purchased a position in Blackstone. The authors reveal (in this dry read for the layman) historically what happened behind the financial revolution and reveal how Blackstone and PE changed forever the game of financing and Wall Street.

For the “Baby Boomer” the book takes you back to the mid-70s and testifies to the history of the Leverage Buy Out (LBO). It coalesces with companies, people, and tactics used to gain control of everyday companies. It appears this Merger and Acquisition (M&A) hostile takeover era sometimes has led to many corporate boards of today buying back their stock and consistently increasing dividends to keep shareholders satisfied. Additionally, it appears although the take-over wave of the 80s may have been ignored by many of us; the scandal of Drexel Burnham Lambert and the Milken junk bond adventures are remembered that led to his imprisonment.

I read this book right after “The Smartest Guys in the Room” by McLean and Elkind and as that work this one is a thorough examination of another corporate finance subject, private equity. In fact the authors...

United States on Apr 18, 2014

Avalon: This book is a fairly quick read that lays out the history of Blackstone and the origins of some of its spinoffs. Overall, I would say this book reads like a reporter's account of the facts of the situation. It does not have anywhere near the level of detail of an insider or someone that had intimate knowledge of the doings or workings of this firm. For that reason, i was a little disappointed with this book as it did not describe what has made this one of the great players in finance. Sure there is discussion of the leadership's obsessions with this or that and some color of the roles some of the senior players had in the direction of the firm, but I struggled to identify what was the critical element, other than the leadership's, or more specifically Schwartzman's, relentless pursuit of success that made this a great firm. It certainly appeared the author relied a great deal or was heavily influenced by Schwartzman's account and as such I was left wanting and believing as with so many other books written by reporters, not industry experts or insiders, that they lacked an understanding of the true dynamic within the organization. In the author's defense, there is a fair amount of...

United States on Oct 08, 2013

DOPPLEGANGER: This journey through the world of buy-outs and private equity and in particular Blackstone and it's co-founder and longtime driving force Steve Schwarzman, is comprehensively told by the authors David Carey and John E Morris, both experienced financial journalists. It is a very complete account of virtually (if not all) of the deals, both successes and failures undertaken by Blackstone from its start in 1985 through to fairly recently, and it explains in understandable jargon all of the 'in's-and-out's' and technicalities of the Private Equity money making merry-go-round.

The book also strives to give a balanced view on the whole business, ethics and usefulness to society of Private Equity buccaneers from Knights on White Horses riding to save ailing businesses to bloodsuckers interested only in lining their own pockets with little or no regard for others. The reader is left to make his own mind up in this respect.

However, I found that, whilst "King Of Capital" was a well researched and compiled book that was instructive as well as informative, it was perhaps a tad short of instilling a sense into the reader of the 'passion' and cut and thrust that surely must be a...

United Kingdom on Mar 27, 2012