illiquid equity mkts r funny
bought a (tiny) amnt of a biz in a dormant brokerage acct today
sold it 30 mins later for a 25% gain - after absolutely *no* company specific or macro news
$ gain was trivial, but fun to play around w orderbook dynamics, esp w forced selling/buying
@krsumit1@InnocenceCapit1@FrankieFF_ “can’t” unfortunately isn’t a real word at most IBs (or MBB / consulting shops)
goal is to please the client (make urself $), not be right
@krsumit1@InnocenceCapit1@FrankieFF_ yes def *shouldn’t* be used for any serious analysis
but oh you’d be surprised at the #s that go into even frontpage deals, incl multi billion $ public co mergers / acqs
have first hand seen merger proxies / 14As w #s from last min CapIQ pulls (or hard coded PDF text edits)
@FrankieFF_@InnocenceCapit1 preferred to have more uninterrupted free time (between comments) to work on my own personal investments / investment models or read, than to non-stop iterate v345 PPT/excel
@FrankieFF_@InnocenceCapit1 oh trust me i did something v similar in my (very brief) stint lol. faxing, illegible upside flip phone pics, 2am back-and-forth private couriers, etc
i preferred technologically inept Partners / deal teams
u were going to have to stay up a good majority of nights anyways
@InnocenceCapit1@FrankieFF_ re: ipad - it shouldve revolutionized banking, but think it's the worst thing to ever happen to analysts quality of life (24/7 comments; never can reliably unplug)
it just adds exponentially more iterations (v_Final_426_printed instead of v_Final_4_printed before)
@InnocenceCapit1@FrankieFF_ yup, but BBG/CapIQ pulls are "defensible" (to the partner/client/etc), which is what most entry/mid level bankers r incentivized to optimize for
also some mid levels get upset (or even threatened) when analysts think (yes, analyze) too much - "don't question just get it done"
@Pool2Paulie yeah, there's also easier terminal zeroes than near
(not to mention they're drowning in a war chest of like $500M+ of cash)
mostly just wanted to call them out bc i think their fundraising tactics are shameful
@testinprodcap but i agree
however firing 90% of ur employees just 1yr after u 5x'd ur employee count makes u look like quite a bad manager
he's prob going for an employee chart of a shitcoin over time (pump -> slow bleed back to pre-pump)
than a rug pull chart (instant pump -> dump)
Endowments also have longstanding relationships w wholly unrelated & irrelevant groups to BX such as GSO, TacOpps, & BAAM
Again, $BX has no personal or professional relationship w any of the above entities
We remained committed to honesty - we'll emerge from this yr stronger
"Blackstone has never had a relationship w any pension plan or endowment. Steve S doesn't recall ever meeting or communicating with any investment offices
Totally separately, the University of California's endowment has made various investments, incl $4B into BREIT last wk...