Blackstone Profits Jump, Boosted by Exits and Winning Bets on AI

Blackstone Inc. reported a 26% jump in distributable earnings to $1.97 billion for the second quarter, beating analysts' estimates of $1.66 billion, driven by profits from exits and artificial intelligence-related investments. AI bets, including data center sales and investments in cloud companies with Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Anthropic, fueled performance, with nine of the top 10 appreciating investments tied to AI infrastructure, President Jon Gray said.

Bloomberg -- Blackstone Inc. reported a 26% jump in distributable earnings for the second quarter, buoyed by profits from exits and its artificial intelligence-related investments. Most Read from Bloomberg - Retina Chip Designed to Restore Sight to Go on Sale in Europe https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-22/retina-chip-designed-to-restore-sight-to-go-on-sale-in-europe?utm campaign=bn&utm medium=distro&utm source=yahooUS - Hegseth Turns to UNC, Virginia Tech After Dropping Ivy League https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-22/hegseth-turns-to-unc-virginia-tech-after-dropping-ivy-league?utm campaign=bn&utm medium=distro&utm source=yahooUS - Apple Plans Overhaul of MacBooks, iMac in Push to Meet AI Demand https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-22/apple-to-launch-new-macbook-air-imac-macbook-pro-neo-mac-mini-mac-studio?utm campaign=bn&utm medium=distro&utm source=yahooUS The distributable earnings - or profits available to shareholders - rose to $1.97 billion in the three months through June, the New-York based firm said in a statement Thursday, beating analysts' predictions of $1.66 billion. That amounted to $1.52 a share, surpassing the $1.33 average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. AI bets continue to drive Blackstone's performance, with nine out of top 10 appreciating investments tied to data centers, energy, power and large language models, Blackstone President Jon Gray said in an interview. For instance, last month's sale of data center assets to Digital Realty Trust Inc. for $3.5 billion drove the real estate division's performance revenues to the highest level in four years, Gray said. "Our outstanding results are proof of our early, strategic decision to lean into AI, its infrastructure and compute shortage," Gray said. "And clearly this decision to lean into AI is making a big difference for our investors." The vast majority of capital deployment in the second quarter was to investments across the AI ecosystem, including the $5 billion of equity Blackstone gave to a new cloud company it is setting up with Alphabet Inc.'s Google. Blackstone also founded Ode with Anthropic, along with Hellman & Friedman and other consortium members. Blackstone was also part of the $35 billion financing platform with Broadcom Inc. and Apollo Global Management Inc. to facilitate expansion of Anthropic's and OpenAI's compute capacity. Gray said he expected the firm to continue to deploy significant capital into AI infrastructure and its financing. In the second quarter, the firm had $228.1 billion of dry powder, or the capital it has available for new investments. Distributable earnings at Blackstone's credit and insurance arm fell for the second quarter in a row, dropping by 6% to $373 million. Still, those operations drew $31 billion of capital inflows during the quarter, about 45% of the companywide total of $68.3 billion. Just weeks before the US and Israel attacked Iran and sent oil prices soaring, Gray said in January that dealmaking and listing activity was accelerating.