Blackstone Inc. - Annual Report: 2021 (Form 10-K)

☒	ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2021

☐	TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 FOR THE TRANSITION PERIOD FROM                  TO

Delaware		20-8875684
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)		(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

Title of each class		Trading Symbol(s)		Name of each exchange on which registered
Common Stock		BX		New York Stock Exchange

Large accelerated filer   ☒		Accelerated filer   ☐
Non-accelerated filer   ☐		Smaller reporting company   ☐
		Emerging growth company   ☐

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				Page
Part I.
Item 1.		Business			8
Item 1A.		Risk Factors			25
Item 1B.		Unresolved Staff Comments			85
Item 2.		Properties			85
Item 3.		Legal Proceedings			85
Item 4.		Mine Safety Disclosures			85
Part II.
Item 5.		Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities			86
Item 6.		(Reserved)			88
Item 7.		Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations			88
Item 7A.		Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk			150
Item 8.		Financial Statements and Supplementary Data			154
Item 8A.		Unaudited Supplemental Presentation of Statements of Financial Condition			228
Item 9.		Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure			230
Item 9A.		Controls and Procedures			230
Item 9B.		Other Information			231
Item 9C.		Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections			231
Part III.
Item 10.		Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance			232
Item 11.		Executive Compensation			239
Item 12.		Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters			258
Item 13.		Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence			262
Item 14.		Principal Accountant Fees and Services			268
Part IV.
Item 15.		Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules			269
Item 16.		Form 10-K Summary			284
Signatures					285

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This report may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which reflect our current views with respect to, among other things, our operations, taxes, earnings and financial performance, and share repurchases and dividends. You can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as “outlook,” “indicator,” “believes,” “expects,” “potential,” “continues,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seeks,” “approximately,” “predicts,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “opportunity,” “leads” or the negative version of these words or other comparable words. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, there are or will be important factors that could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from those indicated in these statements. We believe these factors include but are not limited to the impact of the novel coronavirus as well as those described under the section entitled “Risk Factors” in this report, as such factors may be updated from time to time in our periodic filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), which are accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this report and in our other periodic filings. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this report, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

We refer to our real estate opportunistic funds as Blackstone Real Estate Partners (“BREP”) funds and our real estate debt investment funds as Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies (“BREDS”) funds. We refer to our real estate investment trusts as “REITs,” to Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc., our NYSE-listed REIT, as “BXMT” and to Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc., our REIT, as “BREIT.” We refer to our real estate funds that target substantially stabilized assets in prime markets as Blackstone Property Partners (“BPP”) funds and our income-generating European real estate funds as Blackstone European Property Income (“BEPIF”) funds. We refer to BREIT, BPP and BEPIF collectively as our Core+ real estate strategies.

Assets Under Management” refers to the assets we manage on which we derive management fees and/or performance revenues. Our Assets Under Management equals the sum of:

Each of our segments may include certain Assets Under Management on which we earn performance revenues but not management fees.

Our calculations of Total Assets Under Management and Assets Under Management may differ from the calculations of other asset managers, and as a result this measure may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other asset managers. In addition, our calculation of Total Assets Under Management includes commitments to, and the fair value of, invested capital in our funds from Blackstone and our personnel, regardless of whether such commitments or invested capital are subject to fees. Our definitions of Total Assets Under Management and Assets Under Management are not based on any definition of total assets under management and assets under management that is set forth in the agreements governing the investment funds that we manage.

For our carry funds, Total Assets Under Management includes the fair value of the investments held and uncalled capital commitments, whereas Assets Under Management may include the total amount of capital commitments or the remaining amount of invested capital at cost depending on whether the investment period has expired or as specified by the fee terms of the fund. As such, in certain carry funds Assets Under Management may be greater than Total Assets Under Management when the aggregate fair value of the remaining investments is less than the cost of those investments.

“Perpetual Capital” refers to the component of assets under management with an indefinite term, that is not in liquidation, and for which there is no requirement to return capital to investors through redemption requests in the ordinary course of business, except where funded by new capital inflows. Perpetual Capital includes capital with an investor right to convert into Perpetual Capital.

Strategic Partners, our secondary fund of funds business, is a total fund solutions provider. As a secondary investor it acquires interests in high-quality private funds from original holders seeking liquidity. Strategic Partners focuses on a range of opportunities in underlying funds such as private equity, real estate, infrastructure, venture and growth capital, credit and other types of funds, as well as general transactions and primary investments and with financial sponsors. Strategic Partners also provides investment advisory services to separately managed account clients investing in primary and secondary investments in private funds and

Blackstone Infrastructure Partners targets a diversified mix of core+, core and public-private partnership investments across all infrastructure sectors, including energy infrastructure, transportation, digital infrastructure, and water and waste with a primary focus in the U.S. BIP applies a disciplined, operationally intensive investment approach to investments, seeking to apply a long-term strategy to large-scale infrastructure assets with a focus on delivering stable, long-term capital appreciation together with a predictable annual cash flow yield.

Our Credit & Insurance segment, with approximately 480 employees and $258.6 billion of Total Assets Under Management as of December 31, 2021, includes Blackstone Credit (“BXC”). BXC is one of the largest credit-oriented managers in the world and is the largest manager of CLOs globally. The investment portfolios of the funds BXC manages or consist of loans and securities of and investment grade companies spread across the capital structure including senior debt, subordinated debt, preferred stock and common equity.

Our Credit & Insurance segment also includes our insurer-focused platform, Blackstone Insurance Solutions (“BIS”). BIS focuses on providing full investment management services for insurers’ general accounts, seeking to deliver customized and diversified portfolios that include allocations to Blackstone managed products and strategies across asset classes and Blackstone’s private credit origination capabilities. BIS provides its clients tailored portfolio construction and strategic asset allocation, seeking to generate risk-managed, capital-efficient returns, diversification and capital preservation that meets clients’ objectives. BIS also provides similar services to clients through separately managed accounts or by assets for certain insurance-dedicated funds and special purpose vehicles. BIS currently manages assets for clients that include Fidelity & Guaranty Life Insurance Company, Everlake Life Insurance Company and the Life & Retirement business of American International Group, Inc.

In addition, before deciding to invest in a new hedge fund or a new alternative asset manager, as applicable, our Hedge Fund Solutions and Strategic Partners teams conduct diligence in a number of areas, which, depending on the nature of the investment, may include, among others, the fund’s/manager’s performance, investment terms, investment strategy and investment personnel, as well as its operations, processes, risk management and internal controls. With respect to liquid credit clients and other clients whose portfolios are actively traded in our Credit & Insurance segment, our industry-focused research analysts provide the review and/or investment committee with a formal and comprehensive review of new investment recommendations and portfolio managers and trading professionals discuss, among other things, risks associated with overall portfolio composition. Our Credit & Insurance segment’s research team monitors the operating performance of underlying issuers, while portfolio managers, together with our traders, focus on optimizing asset composition to maximize value for our investors. This investment process is assisted by a variety of proprietary and research models and methods.

Our private investment funds are generally organized as limited partnerships with respect to U.S. domiciled vehicles and limited partnerships or other similar limited liability entities with respect to domiciled vehicles. In the case of our separately managed accounts, the investor, rather than we, generally controls the investment vehicle that holds or has custody of the investments we advise the vehicle to make. We conduct the sponsorship and management of our carry funds and other similar vehicles primarily through a partnership structure in which limited partnerships organized by us accept commitments and/or subscriptions for investment from institutional investors and, to a more limited extent, high net worth individuals. Such commitments are generally drawn down from investors on an basis to fund investments (or for other permitted purposes) over a specified term. With the exception of certain core+ real estate and real estate debt funds, our private equity and real estate funds are commitment-structured funds. For certain BPP, BREIT, BEPIF and BREDS funds, all or a portion of an investor’s capital may be funded on or promptly after the investor’s subscription date and cash proceeds resulting from the disposition of investments can be reinvested, subject to certain limitations and limited investor withdrawal rights. Our credit-focused funds are generally either commitment-structured funds or open-ended funds where the investor’s capital is fully funded on or promptly after the investor’s subscription date. The CLO vehicles we manage are structured investment vehicles that are generally private companies with limited liability. Most of our funds of hedge funds as well as our hedge funds are structured as funds where the investor’s capital is fully funded on the subscription date. BIS is generally structured around separately managed accounts.

Our investment funds, separately managed accounts and other vehicles not domiciled in the European Economic Area (the “EEA”) are each generally advised by a Blackstone entity serving as investment adviser that is registered under the U.S. Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the “Advisers Act”). For our investment funds, separately managed accounts and other vehicles domiciled in the EEA, a Blackstone entity domiciled in the EEA generally serves as external alternative investment fund manager (“AIFM”), and the AIFM typically delegates its portfolio management function to a Blackstone-affiliated investment adviser registered under the Advisers Act. The Blackstone entity serving as investment adviser or AIFM, as applicable, typically carries out substantially all of the operations of each investment vehicle pursuant to an investment advisory, investment management, AIFM or other similar agreement. Generally, the material terms of our investment advisory and AIFM agreements, as applicable, relate to the scope of services to be rendered by the investment adviser or the AIFM to the applicable vehicle, the calculation of management fees to be borne by investors in our investment vehicles, the calculation of and the manner and extent to which other fees received by the investment adviser or the AIFM, as applicable, from funds or fund portfolio companies serve to offset or reduce the management fees payable by investors in our investment vehicles and certain rights of termination with respect to our investment advisory and AIFM agreements. With the exception of the registered funds described below, the investment vehicles themselves do not generally register as investment companies under the U.S. Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), in reliance on the statutory exemptions provided by Section 3(c)(7), Section 3(c)(5)(C) or, Section 3(c)(1) thereof. Section 3(c)(7) of the 1940 Act exempts from its registration requirements investment vehicles privately placed in the United States whose securities are beneficially owned exclusively by persons who, at the time of acquisition of such securities, are “qualified purchasers” as defined under the 1940 Act. In addition, under current interpretations of the SEC, Section 3(c)(7) of the 1940 Act exempts from registration any investment vehicle all of whose outstanding securities are beneficially owned either by residents or by U.S. residents that are qualified purchasers. Section 3(c)(5)(C) of the 1940 Act exempts from its registration requirements certain companies engaged primarily in investment in mortgages and other liens or investments in real estate. Section 3(c)(1) of the 1940 Act exempts from its registration requirements privately placed investment vehicles whose securities are beneficially owned by not more than 100 persons. Additionally, under current interpretations of the SEC, Section 3(c)(1) of the 1940 Act exempts from registration any investment vehicle not publicly offered in the U.S. all of whose outstanding securities are beneficially owned by not more than 100 U.S. residents. BXMT is externally managed by a Blackstone-owned entity pursuant to a management agreement, conducts its operations in a manner that allows it to maintain its REIT qualification and

also avail itself of the statutory exemption provided by Section 3(c)(5)(C) of the 1940 Act. BREIT is externally advised by a Blackstone-owned entity pursuant to an advisory agreement, conducts its operations in a manner that allows it to maintain its REIT qualification and also avails itself of the statutory exemption provided by Section 3(c)(5)(C) of the 1940 Act. In some cases, one or more of our investment advisers, including advisers within BXC, BAAM and BREDS, advises or funds registered, or regulated as a BDC, under the 1940 Act.

In addition to having an investment adviser, each investment fund that is a limited partnership, or “partnership” fund, also has a general partner that, apart from partnership funds domiciled in the EEA, generally makes all operational and investment decisions, including the making, monitoring and disposing of investments. The limited partners of the partnership funds generally take no part in the conduct or control of the business of the investment funds, have no right or authority to act for or bind the investment funds and have no influence over the voting or disposition of the securities or other assets held by the investment funds. With the exception of certain of our funds of hedge funds, hedge funds, certain credit-focused and real estate debt funds, and other funds or separately managed accounts for the benefit of one or more specified investors, third party investors in some of our funds have the right to remove the general partner of the fund or to accelerate the termination of the investment fund without cause by a majority or supermajority vote. In addition, the governing agreements of many of our investment funds provide that in the event certain “key persons” in our investment funds do not meet specified time commitments with regard to managing the fund, then (a) investors in such funds have the right to vote to terminate the investment period by a specified percentage (including, in certain cases a simple majority) vote in accordance with specified procedures, or accelerate the withdrawal of their capital on an basis, or (b) the fund’s investment period will automatically terminate and a specified percentage (including, in certain cases a simple majority) in accordance with specified procedures is required to restart it. In addition, the governing agreements of some of our investment funds provide that investors have the right to terminate the investment period for any reason by a supermajority vote of the investors in such fund.

For most carry funds, the carried interest is subject to a preferred limited partner return ranging from 5% to 8% per year, subject to a allocation to the general partner. Some of our carry funds do not provide for a preferred return, and generally the terms of our carry funds vary in certain respects across our business units and vintages. If, at the end of the life of a carry fund (or earlier with respect to certain of our real estate, real estate debt, core+ real estate, credit-focused, multi-asset class and opportunistic investment funds), as a result of diminished performance of later investments in a carry fund’s life, (a) the general partner receives in excess of the relevant carried interest percentage(s) applicable to the fund as applied to the fund’s cumulative net profits over the life of the fund, or (in certain cases) (b) the carry fund has not achieved investment returns that exceed the preferred return threshold (if applicable), then we will be obligated to repay an amount equal to the carried interest that was previously distributed to us that exceeds the amounts to which we were ultimately entitled, up to the amount of carried interest received on an basis. This is known as a “clawback” obligation and is an obligation of any person who received such carried interest, including us and other participants in our carried interest plans.

Although a portion of any dividends paid to our shareholders may include any carried interest received by us, we do not intend to seek fulfillment of any clawback obligation by seeking to have our shareholders return any portion of such dividends attributable to carried interest associated with any clawback obligation. To the extent we are required to fulfill a clawback obligation, however, we may determine to decrease the amount of our dividends to our shareholders. The clawback obligation operates with respect to a given carry fund’s own net investment performance only and carried interest of other funds is not netted for determining this contingent obligation. Moreover, although a clawback obligation is several, the governing agreements of most of our funds provide that to the extent another recipient of carried interest (such as a current or former employee) does not fund his or her respective share of the clawback obligation then due, then we and our employees who participate in such carried interest plans may have to fund additional amounts (generally an additional 50% to 70% beyond our share of such obligation) although we retain the right to pursue any remedies that we have under such governing agreements against those carried interest recipients who fail to fund their obligations. We have recorded a contingent repayment obligation equal to the amount that would be due on December 31, 2021, if the various carry funds were liquidated at their current carrying value.

Investors in many of our funds also receive the opportunity to make additional with the investment funds. Our personnel, as well as Blackstone itself and certain Blackstone relationships, also have the opportunity to make investments, in or alongside our funds and other vehicles we manage, in some instances without being subject to management fees, carried interest or incentive fees. In certain cases, limited partner investors may pay additional management fees or carried interest in connection with such

We face competition both in the pursuit of institutional and individual investors for our investment funds and in acquiring investments in attractive portfolio companies and making other investments. Although many institutional and individual investors have increased the amount of capital they commit to alternative investment funds, such increases may create increased competition with respect to fees charged by our funds. Certain institutional investors have demonstrated a preference to their own investment professionals and to make direct investments in alternative assets without the assistance of private equity advisers like us. We compete for investments with such institutional investors and such institutional investors could cease to be our clients. With respect to the retail channel, the market for capital is highly competitive and requires significant investment.

We have accelerated our focus on corporate sustainability and pursuing environmental performance improvements at our office locations. We proactively renovate our spaces to provide additional employee amenities and comfort while implementing efficient lighting and HVAC systems. Blackstone has also committed to measuring and targeting a reduction of emissions across our portfolio companies within the scope of our Emissions Reduction Program. The Emissions Reduction Program aims to reduce energy spend by reducing Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon emissions for new assets where we control the energy usage by 15% in aggregate over the first three years of ownership. To further Blackstone’s sustainability efforts, we continue to expand our resources to enable us to endeavor to drive value-generating sustainability practices and decarbonization at scale.

In addition, the Blackstone Charitable Foundation (“BXCF”) was established in 2007, and is committed to supporting Blackstone’s goal of creating economic opportunity for under-resourced communities. This includes, among other initiatives, its signature Blackstone LaunchPad network, which helps college and university students gain entrepreneurial experiences and competencies to build successful companies and careers, and BX Connects, a global program that provides Blackstone employees with the opportunity to make a difference through community service, volunteer projects, mentoring and board service. BX Connects uses the firm’s scale, talent and resources to make grants, develop nonprofit partnerships and create employee engagement opportunities. Approximately 85% of our employees engaged globally with BXCF’s charitable initiatives in 2021.

As discussed below, we seek to retain and incentivize the performance of our employees through our compensation structure. We also enter into and agreements with certain employees. See “Part III. Item 11. Executive Compensation — and Agreements” for a description of the material terms of such agreements.

We believe diversity of thought and experience builds better businesses. We seek to ensure that the board of directors is composed of members whose collective experience, qualifications and skills will allow the board to effectively satisfy its oversight responsibilities. We also recognize that diversity is an important component of effective governance. of our board of directors is diverse. Likewise, with respect to our portfolio companies, in 2021 we announced that we will target at least diverse representation on new controlled portfolio company boards in the U.S. and Europe. We also launched our Career Pathways pilot program, creating economic opportunity across our portfolio through career mobility and ensuring select portfolio companies have access to the largest pool of talent.

level of responsibility rises. Employees at higher total compensation levels are generally targeted to receive a greater percentage of their total compensation payable in annual cash bonuses, participation in performance interests, and deferred equity awards and a lesser percentage in the form of base salary compared to employees at lower total compensation levels. To further align their interests with those of investors in our funds, our employees have the opportunity to make investments in or alongside our funds and other vehicles we manage. We also provide our employees robust health and retirement offerings, as well as a variety of quality of life benefits, including options and well-being and family planning resources.

In response to the pandemic, our primary focus has been the safety and wellbeing of our employees and their families and the seamless functioning of the firm in serving our investors, and our shareholders. Where remote work has been appropriate or recommended under local government guidelines, our technology infrastructure has proven to be robust and capable of supporting a remote work model. Our return to office protocols have been developed and implemented consistent with local government guidelines, with social distancing, vaccination requirements for office attendance in certain jurisdictions and other safety protocols in place. We have invested over $28.7 million in extensive measures to ensure employee safety, including regular testing, contact tracing technology and commutation benefits. We continue to monitor applicable public health and government guidance and the proliferation of variants.

Blackstone is committed to privacy and data protection. These topics are included in routine training received at least once annually by employees. Data privacy is typically addressed in the Global Head of Compliance’s annual update to our board of directors. Blackstone’s approach to data protection is set out in our Online Privacy Notice and its Investor Data Privacy Notice. Our Data Policy and Strategy Officer oversees privacy, data protection and information risk management efforts, leading the privacy and data protection function, which conducts privacy impact assessments, implements initiatives and reconciles global privacy programs with local privacy requirements. Our privacy function also supports the Data Protection Operating Committee, Blackstone’s global privacy compliance steering committee.

Blackstone has built a dedicated cybersecurity team and maintains a comprehensive cybersecurity program to protect our systems, our operations and the data entrusted to us by our investors, employees, portfolio companies and business partners. Blackstone’s cybersecurity program is led by our Chief Information Security Officer, who works closely with our senior management to develop and advance the firm’s cybersecurity strategy and regularly reports to our board of directors and the audit committee of our board of directors on cybersecurity matters. We believe that cybersecurity is a team effort — every employee has a responsibility to help protect the firm and secure its data. We conduct regular testing at least once a year to identify vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by attackers, using automated tools and “white hat” hackers. We examine and validate our program every two to three years with third parties, measuring it against industry standards and established frameworks, such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Center for Internet Security. We have a comprehensive Security Incident Response Plan to ensure that any events are properly escalated. These plans are validated at least annually through a cyber incident tabletop exercise to consider the types of decisions that would need to be made in the event of a cyber incident. We have engaged in scenario planning exercises around cyber incidents.

Many of our businesses are subject to compliance with laws and regulations of U.S. federal and state governments, governments, their respective agencies and/or various self-regulatory organizations or exchanges. The SEC and various self-regulatory organizations, state securities regulators and international securities regulators have in recent years increased their regulatory activities, including regulation, examination and enforcement in respect of asset management firms, including Blackstone. Any failure to comply with these regulations could expose us to liability and/or damage our reputation. Our businesses have operated for many years within a legal framework that requires us to monitor and comply with a broad range of legal and regulatory developments that affect our activities. However, additional legislation, changes in rules promulgated by financial regulatory authorities or self-regulatory organizations or changes in the interpretation or enforcement of existing laws and rules, either in the United States or abroad, may directly affect our mode of operation and profitability.

All of the investment advisers of our investment funds operating in the U.S. are registered as investment advisers with the SEC under the Advisers Act (other investment advisers may be registered in jurisdictions). Registered investment advisers are subject to the requirements and regulations of the Advisers Act. Such requirements relate to, among other things, fiduciary duties to advisory clients, maintaining an effective compliance program and code of ethics, investment advisory contracts, solicitation agreements, conflicts of interest, recordkeeping and reporting requirements, disclosure, advertising and custody requirements, political contributions, limitations on agency cross and principal transactions between an adviser and advisory clients, and general anti-fraud prohibitions. Certain investment advisers are also registered with international regulators in connection with their management of products that are locally distributed and/or regulated.

Broker-dealers are subject to regulations that cover all aspects of the securities business, including, among others, the implementation of a supervisory control system over the securities business, advertising and sales practices, conduct of and compensation in connection with public securities offerings, maintenance of adequate net capital, record keeping and the conduct and qualifications of employees. In particular, as a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA, BSP is subject to the SEC’s uniform net capital rule, Rule Rule specifies the minimum level of net capital a broker-dealer must maintain and also requires that a significant part of a broker-dealer’s assets be kept in relatively liquid form. The SEC and various self-regulatory organizations impose rules that require notification when net capital of a broker-dealer falls below certain predefined criteria, limit the ratio of subordinated debt to equity in the capital structure of a broker-dealer and constrain the ability of a broker-dealer to expand its business under certain circumstances. Additionally, the SEC’s uniform net capital rule imposes certain requirements that may have the effect of prohibiting a broker-dealer from distributing or withdrawing capital and requiring prior notice to the SEC for certain withdrawals of capital.

In addition, certain of the and investment companies we manage, advise or are registered, or regulated as a BDC, under the 1940 Act. The 1940 Act and the rules thereunder govern, among other things, the relationship between us and such investment vehicles and limit such investment vehicles’ ability to enter into certain transactions with us or our affiliates, including other funds managed, advised or by us.

Pursuant to the U.K. Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, or “FSMA,” certain of our subsidiaries are subject to regulations promulgated and administered by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”). The FSMA and rules promulgated thereunder form the cornerstone of legislation which governs all aspects of our investment business in the United Kingdom, including sales, research and trading practices, provision of investment advice, use and safekeeping of client funds and securities, regulatory capital, recordkeeping, approval standards for individuals, anti-money laundering, periodic reporting and settlement procedures. The Blackstone Group International Partners LLP (“BGIP”) acts as a to its Blackstone U.S. affiliates in relation to the investment and of Europe, Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”) based assets of Blackstone Funds, arranging transactions to be entered into by or on behalf of Blackstone Funds, and providing certain related services. Until December 31, 2020, BGIP had a MiFID II (as defined herein) cross-border passport to provide investment services into the European Economic Area (“EEA”). As of January 1, 2021, as a result of the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union, BGIP no longer has a MiFID II passport. Consequently, BGIP can only provide investment services in the certain EEA jurisdictions where it has obtained a domestic license on a cross-border services basis (currently, Belgium, Denmark, Finland and Italy), or can operate pursuant to an exemption or relief (currently Ireland, Lichtenstein and Norway), although in certain cases with time limitations. BGIP’s principal place of business is in London and it has representative offices or corporate branches in Abu Dhabi, Italy and France.

Blackstone Ireland Limited (formerly known as Blackstone / GSO Debt Funds Management Europe Limited) (“BIL”) is authorized and regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland (“CBI”) as an Investment Firm under the (Irish) European Union (Markets in Financial Instruments) Regulations 2017, which largely implements MiFID II in Ireland. BIL’s principal activity is the provision of management and advisory services to certain CLO and services to certain affiliates. Blackstone Ireland Fund Management Europe Limited (formerly known as Blackstone / GSO Debt Funds Management Europe II Limited) (“BIFM”) is authorized and regulated by the CBI as an Alternative Investment Fund Manager under the (Irish) European Union (Alternative Investment Fund Managers Regulations) 2013 (“AIFMRs”), which largely implements the EU Alternative Investment Fund Managers Director (“AIFMD”) in Ireland. BIFM acts as AIFM and provides investment management functions including portfolio management, risk management, administration, marketing and related activities to its alternative investment funds in accordance with AIFMRs and the conditions imposed by the CBI as set out in the CBI’s alternative investment fund rulebook.

management, administration, marketing and related activities to the assets of its alternative investment funds, in accordance with the AIFM Law and the regulatory provisions imposed by the in Luxembourg. As of January 1, 2021, BEFM promotes Blackstone products and services in European countries where BGIP is not otherwise licensed to do so. BEFM has a branch in Paris, which provides marketing services and where distribution and deal sourcing individuals are based.

Rigorous legal and compliance analysis of our businesses and investments is endemic to our culture and risk management. Our Chief Legal Officer and Global Head of Compliance, together with the Chief Compliance Officers of each of our businesses, supervise our compliance personnel, who are responsible for addressing the regulatory and compliance matters that affect our activities. We strive to maintain a culture of compliance through the use of policies and procedures including a code of ethics, electronic compliance systems, testing and monitoring, communication of compliance guidance and employee education and training. Our compliance policies and procedures address regulatory and compliance matters such as the handling of material information, personal securities trading, marketing practices, gifts and entertainment, anti-money laundering, anti-bribery and sanctions, valuation of investments on a fund-specific basis, recordkeeping, potential conflicts of interest, the allocation of investment opportunities, collection of fees and expense allocation.

Our enterprise risk management framework is designed to manage risk areas across the firm, such as strategic, financial, human capital, legal, operational, regulatory, reputational and technology risks. Our enterprise risk committee aims to identify, assess, monitor and mitigate such key enterprise risks at the corporate, business unit and fund level. The enterprise risk committee is chaired by our Chief Financial Officer and is comprised of senior management across business units, corporate functions and regions. Senior management reports to the audit committee of the board of directors on the agenda of risk topics evaluated by the enterprise risk committee and provides periodic risk reports, an overview of its view on key risks to the firm and detailed assessments of selected risks, as applicable. Our firmwide valuation committee reviews the valuation process for investments held by us and our investment vehicles, including the application of appropriate valuation standards on a consistent basis. The firmwide valuation committee is chaired by our Chief Financial Officer and is comprised

Our principal internet address is www.blackstone.com. We make available free of charge on or through www.blackstone.com our annual reports on quarterly reports on current reports on and amendments to those reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. The contents of our website are not, however, a part of this report.

The impact of the pandemic has rapidly evolved around the globe, with many countries, at various times, taking meaningful measures to limit the spread of the virus by instituting quarantines or lockdowns, imposing travel restrictions and vaccination mandates for certain workers or activities and limiting operations of certain businesses. In 2021, the global economy began reopening and robust economic activity supported a continued recovery. However, the emergence of variants and related surges in cases have contributed to certain setbacks to reopening and could trigger the reinstatement of restrictions, including mandatory business shut-downs, travel restrictions, reduced business operations and social distancing requirements. Many medical and public health experts believe that could perpetually reoccur for years, such as seasonally in winter, and even if generally ceasing to be fatal for most people, such reoccurrence could increase the possibility of periods of increased restrictions on business operations. The longer the pandemic impacts activity levels in the locations and sectors in which we and our portfolio companies operate, the more likely it is to have a sustained, material impact on the economy and on us. These and other factors may delay a return to ordinary course economic activity, or cause the U.S. economy or other major global economies to experience contraction or slower growth. In addition, the pandemic continues to cause labor shortages and disrupt global supply chains, particularly given China’s strict recurrent COVID restrictions, which has contributed to prolonged disruptions. The pandemic is also contributing to growing inflationary pressures, particularly in the U.S., where inflation continues to show signs of acceleration. All of the above may adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations, liquidity and prospects materially and would also exacerbate many of the other risks discussed in this “Risk Factors” section.

Even though the pandemic has been gradually subsiding, the market turmoil and other changes associated with the pandemic may have lasting effects on our business and operations. The proliferation of remote working may result in long-term changed market and consumer and workplace practices that could negatively impact us and our business. Increased adoption of and familiarity with remote work practices could result in continued decreased demand for business and leisure travel, hotel stays, conference facilities, select U.S. urban residential and office assets, diesel fuel and gasoline. In addition, consumer practices and demands may permanently, or for an extended period, change from what they were prior to the onset of including avoiding activities where people are in close proximity to each other, which could adversely affect certain of our investments. Failure of our investment strategies to adapt to these and other changes could adversely impact the returns on our investments.

Adverse impacts on our business as a result of the pandemic have included, and may in the future include, but are not limited to:

The extent to which the pandemic will affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, liquidity and prospects materially will depend on future developments, including the duration, spread and intensity of the pandemic, the emergence of new variants of the virus, the distribution and acceptance of vaccines, the duration of government measures to mitigate the pandemic and how quickly and to what extent normal economic and operating conditions resume, all of which are uncertain and difficult to predict.

Turmoil in the global financial markets can provoke significant volatility of equity and debt securities prices. This can have a material and rapid impact on our valuations, particularly with respect to our public holdings and credit investments. Geopolitical concerns and other global events, including, without limitation, trade conflict, civil unrest, national and international political circumstances (including outbreak of war, terrorist acts or security operations) and pandemics or other severe public health events, have contributed and may continue to contribute to volatility in global equity and debt markets. For example, the Chinese government has in recent years implemented a number of measures to control the rate of economic growth in the country, including by raising interest rates and adjusting deposit reserve ratios for commercial banks, and through other measures designed to tighten credit and liquidity. A slowing of China’s growth rate could have a systemic impact on the global economy and on equity and debt markets. As publicly traded equity securities have in recent years represented an increasingly significant proportion of the assets of many of our funds, stock market volatility, including a sharp decline in the stock market may adversely affect our results, including our revenues and net income. In addition, our public equity holdings have at times been concentrated in a few large positions, thereby making our unrealized valuations particularly sensitive to sharp changes in the price of any of these positions. Further, although the equity markets are not the only means by which we exit investments, should we experience another period of challenging equity markets, our funds may experience increased difficulty in realizing value from investments.

Countries and industries around the globe continue to grapple with the economic impacts of the pandemic. Although meaningful global economic recovery is underway, such recovery may continue to be uneven and characterized by dispersion across sectors and regions. Any deceleration in the rate of global growth in certain industries, sectors or geographies may contribute to poor financial results at our funds’ portfolio companies, which may result in lower investment returns for our funds. For example, periods of economic weakness have and may in the future contribute to a decline in commodity prices and/or volatility in the oil and natural gas markets, each of which would have an adverse effect on our energy investments. The performance of our funds’ portfolio companies would also likely be negatively impacted if pressure on wages and other inputs increasingly pressure profit margins. To the extent the performance of those portfolio companies, as well as valuation multiples, do not improve, our funds may sell those assets at values that are less than we projected or even a loss, thereby significantly affecting those investment funds’ performance. In addition, as the governing agreements of our funds contain only limited requirements regarding diversification of fund investments (by, for example, sector or geographic region), during periods of economic slowdown in certain sectors or regions, the impact on our funds may be exacerbated by concentration of investments in such sector or region. As a result, our ability to raise new funds, as well as our operating results and cash flows could be adversely affected.

The valuations of investments made by our funds are subject to volatility driven by economic and market conditions. Economic and market conditions may also negatively impact our realization opportunities.

We primarily use cash to, without limitation (a) provide capital to facilitate the growth of our existing businesses, which principally includes funding our general partner and commitments to our funds, (b) provide capital for business expansion, (c) pay operating expenses, including cash compensation to our employees, and other obligations as they arise, including servicing our debt and (d) pay dividends to our stockholders, make distributions to the holders of Blackstone Holdings Partnership Units and make repurchases under our share repurchase program. Our principal sources of cash are: (a) cash we received in connection with our prior bond offerings, (b) management fees, (c) realized incentive fees and (d) realized performance allocations, which is the sum of Realized Principal Investment Income and Realized Performance Revenues less Realized Performance Compensation. We have also entered into a $2.25 billion revolving credit facility with a final maturity date of November 24, 2025. Our long-term debt totaled $7.9 billion in borrowings from our prior bond issuances. As of December 31, 2021, we had $250.0 million of borrowings outstanding under our revolving credit facility, which borrowings were repaid subsequent to December 31, 2021. As of December 31, 2021, we had $2.1 billion in Cash and Cash Equivalents, $658.1 million invested in Corporate Treasury Investments and $3.3 billion in Other Investments.

Additionally, the minimum retained ownership requirements and transfer restrictions to which these interests are subject in certain instances lapse over time, may not be enforceable in all cases and can be waived. There is no guarantee that the and agreements to which our senior managing directors are subject, together with our other arrangements with them, will prevent them from leaving, joining our competitors or otherwise competing with us or that these agreements will be enforceable in all cases. In addition, these agreements will expire after a certain period of time, at which point each of our senior managing directors would be free to compete against us and solicit investors in our funds, clients and employees.

We might not be able to provide future senior managing directors with interests in our business to the same extent or with the same tax consequences from which our existing senior managing directors previously benefited. For example, U.S. Federal income tax law currently imposes a three-year holding period requirement for carried interest to be treated as long-term capital gain. The holding period requirement may result in some of our carried interest being treated as ordinary income, which would materially increase the amount of taxes that our employees and other key personnel would be required to pay. Moreover, the tax treatment of carried interest continues to be an area of focus for policymakers and government officials, which could result in further regulatory action by federal or state governments. See “— Changes in U.S. and foreign taxation of businesses and other tax laws, regulations or treaties or an adverse interpretation of these items by tax authorities could adversely affect us, including by adversely impacting our effective tax rate and tax liability.” In addition, certain states have temporarily increased the income tax rate for the state’s highest earners, which could subject certain of our personnel to the highest combined tax rate in the United States. Potential tax rate increases and changes to the tax treatment of carried interest and in applicable tax laws, along with changing opinions regarding living in some geographies where we have offices, may adversely affect our ability to recruit, retain and motivate our current and future professionals.

Moreover, certain institutional investors are demonstrating a preference to their own investment professionals and to make direct investments in alternative assets without the assistance of alternative asset advisers like us. Such institutional investors may become our competitors and could cease to be our clients. As some existing investors cease or significantly curtail making commitments to alternative investment funds, we may need to identify and attract new investors in order to maintain or increase the size of our investment funds. There are no assurances that we can find or secure commitments from those new investors or that the fee terms of the commitments from such new investors will be consistent with the fees historically paid to us by our investors. If economic conditions were to deteriorate or if we are unable to find new investors, we might raise less than our desired amount for a given fund. Further, as we seek to expand into other asset classes, we may be unable to raise a sufficient amount of capital to adequately support such businesses. A failure to successfully raise capital could materially reduce our revenue and cash flow and adversely affect our financial condition.

managed accounts, smaller funds and vehicles. There can be no assurance that such alternatives will be as profitable for us as the traditional investment fund structure, or as to the impact such a trend could have on the cost of our operations or profitability if we were to implement these alternative investment structures. In addition, certain institutional investors, including public pension funds, have publicly criticized certain fund fee and expense structures, including management fees and transaction and advisory fees. Although we have no obligation to modify any of our fees with respect to our existing funds, we may experience pressure to do so in our funds, including in response to regulatory focus by the SEC on the quantum and types of fees and expenses charged by private funds. For example, we have confronted and expect to continue to confront requests from a variety of investors and groups representing investors to decrease fees, which could result in a reduction in the fees and Performance Allocations and Incentive Fees we earn.

Although retail investors have been part of our historic distribution efforts, we have increasingly undertaken business initiatives to increase the number and type of investment products we offer to high net worth individuals, family offices and mass affluent investors in the U.S. and other jurisdictions around the world. In some cases, our unregistered funds are distributed to retail investors indirectly through third party managed vehicles sponsored by brokerage firms, private banks or third-party feeder providers, and in other cases directly to the qualified clients of private banks, independent investment advisors and brokers. In other cases, we create investment products specifically designed for direct investment by retail investors in the U.S., some of whom are not accredited investors, or similar investors in jurisdictions, including in Europe. Such investment products are regulated by the SEC in the U.S. and by other similar regulatory bodies in other jurisdictions.

As we expand the distribution of products to retail investors outside of the U.S., we are increasingly exposed to risks in jurisdictions. While these risks are similar to those that we face in the distribution of products to retail investors in the U.S., securities laws and other applicable regulatory regimes in many jurisdictions, including the U.K. and the EEA, are extensive, complex, and vary by local jurisdiction. As a result, this expansion subjects us to additional litigation and regulatory risk.

Our effective tax rate and tax liability is based on the application of current income tax laws, regulations andtreaties. These laws, regulations and treaties are complex, and the manner which they apply to us and our funds issometimes open to interpretation. Significant management judgment is required in determining our provision forincome taxes, our deferred tax assets and liabilities and any valuation allowance recorded against our netdeferred tax assets. Although management believes its application of current laws, regulations and treaties to becorrect and sustainable upon examination by the tax authorities, the tax authorities could challenge our interpretation resulting in additional tax liability or adjustment to our income tax provision that could increase our effective tax rate. Regarding the impact of the Conversion on our income taxes, see “Part II. Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data — Note 15. Income Taxes.”

In addition, the U.S. Congress, the Organization for Economic and Development (“OECD”) and other government agencies in jurisdictions in which we and our affiliates invest or do business have maintained a focus on issues related to the taxation of multinational companies. The OECD, which represents a coalition of member countries, is contemplating changes to numerous long-standing tax principles through its base erosion and profit shifting (“BEPS”) project, which is focused on a number of issues, including the shifting of profits between affiliated entities in different tax jurisdictions, interest deductibility and eligibility for the benefits of double tax treaties. The OECD also recently finalized guidelines that recommend certain multinational enterprises be subject to a minimum 15% tax rate, effective from 2023. This minimum tax and several of the proposed measures are potentially relevant to some of our structures and could have an adverse tax impact on our funds, investors and/or our portfolio companies. Some member countries have been moving forward on the BEPS agenda but, because timing of implementation and the specific measures adopted will vary among participating states, significant uncertainty remains regarding the impact of BEPS proposals. If implemented, these proposals could result in a loss of tax treaty benefits and increased taxes on income from our investments.

Finally, our and our portfolio companies’ technology platforms, data and intellectual property are also subject to a heightened risk of theft or compromise to the extent we or our portfolio companies engage in operations outside the United States, in particular in those jurisdictions that do not have comparable levels of protection of proprietary information and assets such as intellectual property, trademarks, trade secrets, and customer information and records. In addition, we and our portfolio companies may be required to compromise protections or forego rights to technology, data and intellectual property in order to operate in or access markets in a foreign jurisdiction. Any such direct or indirect compromise of these assets could have a material adverse impact on us and our portfolio companies.

In addition, our operations are highly dependent on our technology platforms and we rely heavily on our analytical, financial, accounting, communications and other data processing systems, each of which may require updates and enhancements as we grow our business. Our information systems and technology may not continue to be able to accommodate our growth, and the cost of maintaining such systems may increase from its current level. Such a failure to adapt to or accommodate growth, or an increase in costs related to such information systems, could have a material adverse effect on us. An extended period of remote working by our employees, such as that experienced during the pandemic, could introduce operational risks, including heightened cybersecurity risk. See “— Cybersecurity risks could result in the loss of data, interruptions in our business, and damage to our reputation, and subject us to regulatory actions, increased costs and financial losses, each of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations” and “— Rapidly developing and changing global privacy laws and regulations could increase compliance costs and subject us to enforcement risks and reputational damage.”

Our business is subject to extensive regulation, including periodic examinations, by governmental agencies and self-regulatory organizations in the jurisdictions in which we operate around the world. These authorities have regulatory powers dealing with many aspects of financial services, including the authority to grant, and in specific circumstances to cancel, permissions to carry on particular activities. Many of these regulators, including U.S. and foreign government agencies and self-regulatory organizations, as well as state securities commissions in the United States, are also empowered to conduct examinations, investigations and administrative proceedings that can result in fines, suspensions of personnel, changes in policies, procedures or disclosure or other sanctions, including censure, the issuance of orders, the suspension or expulsion of a broker-dealer or investment adviser from registration or memberships or the commencement of a civil or criminal lawsuit against us or our personnel.

The financial services industry in recent years has been the subject of heightened scrutiny, which is expected to continue to increase, and the SEC has specifically focused on private equity and the private funds industry. In that connection, in recent years the SEC’s stated examination priorities and published observations from examinations have included, among other things, private equity firms’ collection of fees and allocation of expenses, their marketing and valuation practices, allocation of investment opportunities, terms agreed in side letters and similar arrangements with investors, consistency of firms’ practices with disclosures, handling of material information and insider trading, purported waivers or limitations of fiduciary duties and the existence of, and adherence to, policies and procedures with respect to conflicts of interest. Recent statements by SEC staff, have reiterated a focus on certain of these topics and on bolstering transparency in the private funds industry, including with respect to fees earned and expenses charged by advisers.

In February 2022, the SEC voted to propose new rules and amendments to existing rules under the Advisers Act specifically related to registered advisers and their activities with respect to private funds. If enacted, the proposed rules and amendments could have a significant impact on advisers to private funds, including our advisers. In particular, the SEC has proposed to limit circumstances in which a fund manager can be indemnified by a private fund; increase reporting requirements by private funds to investors concerning performance, fees and expenses; require registered advisers to obtain an annual audit for private funds and also require such fund’s auditor to notify the SEC upon the occurrence of certain material events; enhance requirements, including the need to obtain a fairness opinion and make certain disclosures, in connection with secondary transactions (also known as general secondaries); prohibit advisers from engaging in certain practices, such as, without limitation, charging accelerated fees for unperformed services or fees and expenses associated with an examination to private fund clients; and impose limitations and new disclosure requirements regarding preferential treatment of investors in private funds in side letters or other arrangements with an adviser. Amendments to the existing books and records and compliance rules under the Advisers Act would complement new proposals and also require that all registered advisers document their annual compliance review in writing. The SEC has also recently proposed amendments to Rule and has included in its regulatory agenda potential rulemaking on climate change disclosures and corporate diversity. If adopted, including with modifications, these new rules could significantly impact certain of our advisers and their operations, including by increasing compliance burdens and associated regulatory costs and complexity and reducing the ability to receive certain expense reimbursements or indemnification in certain circumstances. In addition, these potential rules enhance the risk of regulatory action, which could adversely impact our reputation and our fundraising efforts, including as a result of public regulatory sanctions.

In addition, there has been increased regulatory focus on practices by investment managers. For example, in 2021 the SEC included on its rulemaking agenda multiple items related to ESG, including requirements for investment managers. In addition, the SEC has focused on the labeling by investment funds of their activities or investments as “sustainable” and has examined the methodology used by funds for determining ESG investments, with a focus on whether such labeling is misleading. There is also generally a higher likelihood of regulatory focus on ESG matters under the current administration, including in the context of examinations by regulators and potential enforcement actions. Outside of the U.S., the European Commission adopted an action plan on financing sustainable growth, as well as initiatives at the EU level, such as the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (“SFDR”). See “— Financial regulatory changes in the United States could adversely affect our business” and “— Complex regulatory regimes and potential regulatory changes in jurisdictions outside the United States could adversely affect our business.” Compliance with the SFDR and other rules may subject us, our funds and our portfolio companies to increased restrictions, disclosure obligations and compliance and other associated costs, as well as potential reputational harm. In addition, under the requirements of SFDR and other regulations to which we may become subject, we may be required to classify certain of our funds and their portfolio companies against certain criteria, some of which can be open to subjective interpretation. Our view on the appropriate classification may develop over time, including in response to statutory or regulatory guidance or changes in industry approach to classification. If regulators disagree with the procedures or standards we use, or new regulations or legislation require a methodology of measuring or disclosing ESG impact that is different from our current practice, it could have a material adverse effect on fundraising efforts and our reputation.

A growing interest on the part of investors and regulators in ESG factors and increased demand for, and scrutiny of, disclosures by asset managers, has likewise increased the risk that we could be perceived as, or accused of, making inaccurate or misleading statements regarding the investment strategies of our funds or our and our funds’ ESG efforts or initiatives, often referred to as “greenwashing.” Such perception or accusation could damage our reputation, result in litigation or regulatory actions, and adversely impact our ability to raise capital and attract new investors.

The Dodd-Frank Act also authorized federal regulatory agencies to review and, in certain cases, prohibit compensation arrangements at financial institutions that give employees incentives to engage in conduct deemed to encourage inappropriate risk taking by covered financial institutions. In 2016, the SEC a rule, as part of a joint rulemaking effort with U.S. federal banking regulators that would apply to “covered financial institutions,” including registered investment advisers and broker-dealers that have total consolidated assets of at least $1 billion, and would impose substantive and procedural requirements on incentive-based compensation arrangements. While this proposed rule was never adopted, the current administration has included of this rule on its regulatory agenda. If efforts are revived to finalize the rule under the current administration the application of this rule to us could limit our ability to recruit and retain senior managing directors and investment professionals.

under the Advisers Act prohibits investment advisers from providing advisory services for compensation to a government plan investor for two years, subject to limited exceptions, after the investment adviser, its senior executives or its personnel involved in soliciting investments from government entities make political contributions to certain candidates and officials in position to influence the hiring of an investment adviser by such government client. Advisers are required to implement compliance policies designed, among other matters, to comply with this rule. Any failure on our part to comply with the rule could expose us to significant penalties and reputational damage. In addition, there have been similar rules on a state level regarding “pay to play” practices by investment advisers.

In June 2020, U.S. federal regulatory agencies adopted revisions to the Volcker Rule to allow for certain exemptions from the Volcker Rule’s restrictions on the ability of banking entities to sponsor and invest in certain covered funds (the “Covered Fund Amendments”). The Covered Fund Amendments also loosen certain other restrictions on extraterritorial fund activities and direct parallel or made alongside covered funds. The Covered Fund Amendments should therefore expand the ability of banking entities to invest in and sponsor private funds. These and similar regulatory developments may have the effect of increasing competition for our businesses. For example, increased competition from banks and other financial institutions in the credit markets could have the effect of reducing credit spreads, which may adversely affect the revenues of our credit and other businesses whose strategies include the provision of credit to borrowers.

To date, the current administration has not expressed an intent to implement measures focused on deregulation of the U.S. financial services industry, and has taken actions seeking to halt or reverse certain deregulation measures adopted by the prior administration. However, whether the current administration or regulatory agencies will enact, adopt or modify any particular financial regulations remains unclear. Any changes in the regulatory framework applicable to our business or the businesses of the portfolio companies of our funds, including the changes described above, may create uncertainty, require the attention of our senior management or result in limitations on the manner in which business is conducted, or may ultimately have an adverse impact on the competitiveness of certain nonbank financial service providers traditional banking organizations.

We have increasingly undertaken initiatives to deliver to insurance companies customizable and diversified portfolios of Blackstone products across asset classes, as well as the option for partial or full management of insurance companies’ general account assets. This strategy has in recent years contributed to meaningful growth in our Assets under Management, including in Perpetual Capital Assets Under Management. Blackstone Insurance Solutions currently manages assets for Fidelity & Guaranty Life Insurance Company, Everlake Life Insurance Company and certain of their respective affiliates pursuant to several investment management agreements. BIS also currently manages a portion of the assets of the Life & Retirement business of American International Group, Inc. In addition, in July 2016, Blackstone and AXIS Capital the establishment of Harrington Reinsurance, a Bermuda property and casualty reinsurance company, and BIS currently manages all general account assets of Harrington Reinsurance. BIS also manages or assets for certain insurance-dedicated funds and special purpose vehicles, and has developed, and expects to continue to develop, other capital-efficient products for insurance companies.

The U.S. and insurance industries are subject to significant regulatory oversight. Regulatory authorities in many relevant jurisdictions have broad regulatory (including through any regulatory support organization), administrative, and in some cases discretionary, authority with respect to insurance companies and/or their investment advisors, which may include, among other things, the investments insurance companies may acquire and hold, marketing practices, affiliate transactions, reserve requirements and capital adequacy.

These requirements are primarily concerned with the protection of policyholders, and regulatory authorities often have wide discretion in applying the relevant restrictions and regulations to insurance companies, which may indirectly affect BIS and other Blackstone businesses that offer products or services to insurance companies. We may be the target or subject of, or may have indemnification obligations related to, litigation (including class action litigation by policyholders), enforcement investigations or regulatory scrutiny. Regulators and other authorities generally have the power to bring administrative or judicial proceedings against insurance companies, which could result in, among other things, suspension or revocation of licenses, orders, fines, civil penalties, criminal penalties or other disciplinary action. To the extent BIS or another Blackstone business that offers products or services to insurance companies is directly or indirectly involved in such regulatory actions, our reputation could be harmed, we may become liable for indemnification obligations and we could potentially be subject to enforcement actions, fines and penalties. Recently, insurance regulatory authorities and regulatory support organizations have increased scrutiny of alternative asset managers’ involvement in the insurance industry, including with respect to the ownership by such managers or their affiliated funds of, and the management of assets on behalf of, insurance companies. For example, insurance regulators have increasingly focused on the terms and structure of investment management agreements, including whether they are at arms’ length, establish control of the insurance company, grant the asset manager excessive authority or oversight over the investment strategy of the insurance company or provide for management fees that are not fair and reasonable. Regulators have also increasingly focused on potential conflicts of interest, including affiliated investments, and potential misalignment of incentives and any potential risks from these and other aspects of an insurance company’s relationship with alternative asset managers that may impact the insurance company’s risk profile. This enhanced scrutiny may increase the risk of regulatory actions against us and could result in new or amended regulations that limit our ability, or make it more burdensome or costly, to enter into new investment management agreements with insurance companies and thereby grow our insurance strategy. Some of the arrangements we have or will develop with insurance companies involve complex U.S. and tax structures for which no clear precedent or authority may be available. Such structures may be subject to potential regulatory, legislative, judicial or administrative change or scrutiny and differing interpretations and any adverse regulatory, legislative, judicial or administrative changes, scrutiny or interpretations may result in substantial costs to insurance companies or BIS. In some cases we may agree to indemnify insurance companies for their losses resulting from any such adverse changes or interpretations.

Following Brexit, a new Trade and Cooperation Agreement (the “TCA”) between the U.K. and the EU became effective on April 30, 2021. The TCA addresses, among other things, trade in goods and the ability of U.K. nationals to travel to the EU on business, but does not address substantive future cooperation with respect to financial services or reciprocal market access under “equivalence” arrangements or otherwise. In addition, U.K. service suppliers no longer benefit from automatic access to the entire EU single market and free movement of goods is subject to increased bureaucracy. Although the TCA contains provisions on short-term business visits without visas or work permits, these do not cover provision of relevant services, and free movement between the EU and the U.K is now considerably restricted.

In Europe, the EU Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (“AIFMD”) was implemented in 2013 and established a regulatory regime for alternative investment fund managers, including private equity and hedge fund managers. AIFMD is applicable to our AIFMs in Luxembourg and Ireland and in certain other respects to affiliated AIFMs in other jurisdictions to the extent that they market interests in alternative investment funds to EEA investors. We have had to comply with these and other requirements of the AIFMD in order to market certain of our investment funds to professional investors in the EEA. The U.K. has AIFMD and therefore similar requirements continue to apply to funds marketed to U.K. investors notwithstanding Brexit.

In addition, on August 2, 2021, certain regulations (the “CBDF Regulation”) came into effect, which in part amended AIFMD. The CBDF Regulation introduces new standardized requirements for cross-border fund distribution in the EU, including as related to transparency and principles for calculating supervisory fees, new procedures for the of marketing (including restrictions on successor funds), new content requirements for marketing communications and additional regulations with respect to investors who approach our funds seeking to invest on their own initiative. As the CBDF Regulation is implemented across various EU jurisdictions, our ability to raise capital from EEA investors may become more complex and costly.

The EU Securitization Regulation (the “Securitization Regulation”), which became effective on January 1, 2019, imposes due diligence and risk retention requirements on “institutional investors” (which includes managers of alternative investment funds assets) which must be satisfied prior to holding a securitization position. These requirements may apply to AIFs managed by not only EEA AIFMs but also AIFMs where those AIFs have been registered for marketing in the EU under national private placement regimes. Similar requirements continue to apply in the U.K. notwithstanding Brexit. The Securitization Regulation may impact or limit our funds’ ability to make certain investments that constitute “securitizations” under the regulation. The Securitization Regulation may also constrain certain of our funds’ ability to invest in securitization positions that do not comply with, among other things, the risk retention requirements. Failure to comply with these requirements could result in various penalties.

The EU regulation (“EMIR”) on (“OTC”) derivative transactions, central counterparties and trade repositories requires mandatory clearing of certain OTC derivatives through central counterparties, creates additional risk mitigation requirements and imposes reporting and recordkeeping requirements in respect of most derivative transactions. Similar rules apply in the U.K., and compliance with relevant EU and U.K. requirements imposes additional operational burden and cost on our engagement in such transactions.

As with any other organization that holds personal data of EU data subjects, we are required to comply with the GDPR because, among other things, we process European individuals’ personal data in the U.S. via our global technology systems. The U.K. has GDPR and similar requirements therefore continue to apply in the U.K. notwithstanding Brexit, although transfers of personal data between the EU and U.K. are subject to less safeguards then transfers to third countries. Financial regulators and data protection authorities have significantly increased audit and investigatory powers under GDPR to probe how personal data is being used and processed. Serious breaches of include antitrust-like fines on companies of up to the greater of 20 million / £17.5 million or 4% of global group turnover in the preceding year, regulatory action and reputational risk. See “— Rapidly developing and changing global privacy laws and regulations could increase compliance costs and subject us to enforcement risks and reputational damage.”

In the EU, the key regimes include the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (“SFDR”) which currently imposes disclosure requirements on MiFID firms and AIFMs and will affect our EEA operations (including where products are marketed to EEA investors). The EU regulation on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment (“Taxonomy Regulation”) supplements SFDR’s disclosure requirements for certain entities and sets out a framework for classifying economic activities as “environmentally sustainable.” There is considerable legal uncertainty about how to comply with these regimes. In particular, as a result of this uncertainty, there is a risk of inadvertent mischaracterization of certain of our products, which could lead to claims by investors for and/or regulatory enforcement action, which could result in fines or other regulatory sanctions and damage to our reputation. In addition, certain requirements (such as making public disclosures on our website concerning the ESG features of private funds) might conflict with our other regulatory obligations. As a consequence, we may be unable to, or make a reasoned decision not to, fully comply with the requirements of these new regimes. This too could lead to regulatory enforcement action with similar consequences. The U.K. is not implementing SFDR but is in the process of introducing mandatory disclosure requirements aligned with the TCFD. In addition, a second layer of U.K. regulation has been proposed, which will implement additional disclosure requirements (known as “SDR”) and a new “U.K. Green Taxonomy,” which gives rise to similar risks to those described above in relation to SFDR and the Taxonomy Regulation, and exacerbates the risks arising from mismatch between the EEA and U.K. initiatives.

A number of jurisdictions, including the U.S., have restrictions on foreign direct investment pursuant to which their respective heads of state and/or regulatory bodies have the authority to block or impose conditions with respect to certain transactions, such as investments, acquisitions and divestitures, if such transaction threatens to impair national security. In addition, many jurisdictions restrict foreign investment in assets important to national security by taking steps including, but not limited to, placing limitations on foreign equity investment, implementing investment screening or approval mechanisms, and restricting the employment of foreigners as key personnel. These U.S. and foreign laws could limit our funds’ ability to invest in certain businesses or entities or impose burdensome notification requirements, operational restrictions or delays in pursuing and consummating transactions. For example, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) has the authority to review transactions that could result in potential control of, or certain types of investments in, a U.S. business by a foreign person. In recent years, legislation has expanded the scope of CFIUS’ jurisdiction to cover more types of transactions and empower CFIUS to scrutinize more closely investments in certain transactions. CFIUS may recommend that the President block or impose conditions or terms on such transactions, certain of

which may adversely affect the ability of the fund to execute on its investment strategy with respect to such transaction. Additionally, CFIUS or any equivalents thereof may seek to impose limitations on one or more such investments that may prevent us from maintaining or pursuing investment opportunities that we otherwise would have maintained or pursued, which could make it more difficult for us to deploy capital in certain of our funds.

We, our funds and our portfolio companies face risks associated with climate change including risks related to the impact of legislation and regulation (both domestically and internationally), risks related to climate-related business trends, and risks stemming from the physical impacts of climate change.

New climate change-related regulations or interpretations of existing laws may result in enhanced disclosure obligations, which could negatively affect us, our funds and our portfolio companies and materially increase the regulatory burden and cost of compliance. In particular, compliance with climate- and other rules in the EU and U.K. is expected to result in increased legal and compliance costs and expenses which would be borne by us and our funds. These disclosure requirements could even be extended to private companies. See “— Financial regulatory changes in the United States could adversely affect our business” and “— Complex regulatory regimes and potential regulatory changes in jurisdictions outside the United States could adversely affect our business.”

Our employees could engage in misconduct that adversely affects our business. We are subject to a number of obligations and standards arising from our asset management business and our authority over the assets managed by our asset management business. The violation of these obligations and standards by any of our employees would adversely affect our clients and us. Our business often requires that we deal with confidential matters of great significance to companies in which we may invest. If our employees were to improperly use or disclose confidential information, we could suffer serious harm to our reputation, financial position and current and future business relationships. Detecting or deterring employee misconduct is not always possible, and the extensive precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in all cases. In addition, a prolonged period of remote work, such as the one experienced during the pandemic, may require us to develop and implement additional precautions in order to detect and prevent employee misconduct. Such additional precautions, which may include the implementation of security and other restrictions, may make our systems more difficult and costly to operate and may not be effective in preventing employee misconduct in a remote work environment. If one of our employees were to engage in misconduct or were to be accused of such misconduct, our business and our reputation could be adversely affected.

In addition, we may also be adversely affected if there is misconduct by personnel of portfolio companies in which our funds invest or by our portfolio companies’ service providers. For example, financial fraud or other deceptive practices at our funds’ portfolio companies, or failures by personnel at our funds’ portfolio companies to comply with anti-bribery, trade sanctions, anti-harassment, anti-discrimination or other legal and regulatory requirements, could subject us to, among other things, civil and criminal penalties or material fines, profit disgorgement, injunctions on future conduct and securities litigation, and could also cause significant reputational and business harm to us. Such misconduct may undermine our due diligence efforts with respect to such portfolio companies and could negatively affect the valuations of the investments by our funds in such portfolio companies. Losses to our funds and us could also result from misconduct or other actions by service providers, such as administrators, consultants or other advisors, if such service providers improperly use or disclose confidential information, misappropriate funds, or violate legal or regulatory obligations. In addition, we may face an increased risk of such misconduct to the extent our investment in markets, particularly emerging markets, increases.

Because of our various asset management businesses and our capital markets services business, we will be subject to a number of actual and potential conflicts of interest and subject to greater regulatory oversight and more legal and contractual restrictions than that to which we would otherwise be subject if we had just one line of business. To mitigate these conflicts and address regulatory, legal and contractual requirements across our various businesses, we have implemented certain policies and procedures (for example, information walls) that may reduce the positive synergies that we cultivate across these businesses for purposes of identifying and managing attractive investments. For example, certain regulatory requirements require us to restrict access by certain personnel in our funds to information about certain transactions or investments being considered or made by those funds. In addition, we may come into possession of confidential or material information with respect to issuers in which we may be considering making an investment or issuers in which our affiliates may hold an interest. As a consequence of such policies and procedures, we may be precluded from providing such information or other ideas to our other businesses even where it might be of benefit to them.

As we have expanded and as we continue to expand the number and scope of our businesses, we increasingly confront potential conflicts of interest relating to our funds’ investment activities. Investment manager conflicts of interest continue to be a significant area of focus for regulators and the media. Because of our size and the variety of businesses and investment strategies that we pursue, we may face a higher degree of scrutiny compared with investment managers that are smaller or focus on fewer asset classes. Certain of our funds may have overlapping investment objectives, including funds that have different fee structures and/or investment strategies that are more narrowly focused. Potential conflicts may arise with respect to allocation of investment opportunities among us, our funds and our affiliates, including to the extent that the fund documents do not mandate a specific investment allocation. For example, we may allocate an investment opportunity that is appropriate for two or more investment funds in a manner that excludes one or more funds or results in a disproportionate allocation based on factors or criteria that we determine, such as sourcing of the transaction, specific nature of the investment or size and type of the investment, among other factors. We may also decide to provide a opportunity to certain investors in lieu of allocating a piece of the investment to our funds. In addition, the challenge of allocating investment opportunities to certain funds may be exacerbated as we expand our business to include more lines of business, including more public vehicles. Allocating investment opportunities appropriately frequently involves significant and subjective judgments. The risk that fund investors or regulators could challenge allocation decisions as inconsistent with our obligations under applicable law, governing fund agreements or our own policies cannot be eliminated. In addition, the perception of with such requirements or policies could harm our reputation with fund investors.

We may also cause different funds to invest in a single portfolio company, for example where the fund that made an initial investment no longer has capital available to invest. We may also cause different funds that we manage to purchase different classes of securities in the same portfolio company. For example, one of our CLO funds could acquire a debt security issued by the same company in which one of our private equity funds owns common equity securities. A direct conflict of interest could arise between the debt holders and the equity holders if such a company were to develop insolvency concerns, and we would have to carefully manage that conflict. A decision to acquire material information about a company while pursuing an investment opportunity for a particular fund gives rise to a potential conflict of interest when it results in our having to restrict the ability of other funds to take any action with respect to that company. Our affiliates or portfolio companies may be service providers or counterparties to our funds or portfolio companies and receive fees or other compensation for services that are not shared with our fund investors. In such instances, we may be incentivized to cause our funds or portfolio companies to purchase such services from our affiliates or portfolio companies rather than an unaffiliated service provider despite the fact that a third party service provider could potentially provide higher quality services or offer them at a lower cost. In addition, conflicts of interest may exist in the valuation of our investments, as well as the personal trading of employees and the allocation of fees and expenses among us, our funds and their portfolio companies, and our affiliates. Lastly, in certain, infrequent instances we may purchase an investment alongside one of our investment funds or sell an investment to one of our investment funds and conflicts may arise in respect of the allocation, pricing and timing of such investments and the ultimate disposition of such investments. A failure to appropriately deal with these, among other, conflicts, could negatively impact our reputation and ability to raise additional funds or result in potential litigation or regulatory action against us. Further, any steps taken by the SEC to preclude or limit certain conflicts of interest may make it more difficult for our funds to pursue transactions that may otherwise be attractive to the fund and its investors, which may adversely impact fund performance.

Potential conflicts will arise with respect to our decisions regarding how to allocate opportunities among investors and the terms of any such As a general matter, our allocation of opportunities is within our discretion and there can be no assurance that opportunities of any particular type or amount will become available to any of our investors. We may take into account a variety of factors and considerations we deem relevant in allocating opportunities, including, without limitation, whether a potential has expressed an interest in evaluating opportunities, our assessment of a potential ability to invest an amount of capital that fits the needs of the investment and our assessment of a potential ability to commit to a opportunity within the required timeframe of the particular transaction.

Our fund documents typically do not mandate specific allocations with respect to The investment advisers of our funds may have an incentive to provide potential opportunities to certain investors in lieu of others and/or in lieu of an allocation to our funds (including, for example, as part of an investor’s overall strategic relationship with us) if such allocations are expected to generate relatively greater fees or Performance Allocations to us than would arise if such opportunities were allocated otherwise. arrangements may be structured through one or more of our investment vehicles, and in such circumstances will generally bear the costs and expenses thereof (which may lead to conflicts of interest regarding the allocation of costs and expenses between such and investors in our funds). The terms of any such existing and future vehicles may differ materially, and in some instances may be more favorable to us, than the terms of certain of our funds or prior vehicles, and such different terms may create an incentive for us to allocate a greater or lesser percentage of an investment opportunity to such vehicles. There can be no assurance that any conflicts of interest will be resolved in favor of any particular investment funds or investors (including any applicable

LIBOR and certain other floating rate benchmark indices, including, without limitation, the Euro Interbank Offered Rate, Tokyo Interbank Offered Rate, Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate and Singapore Interbank Offered Rate (collectively, “IBORs”) have been the subject of national, international and regulatory guidance and proposals for reform. These reforms may cause such benchmarks to perform differently than in the past or have other consequences which cannot be predicted. On November 30, 2020, the FCA, which regulates LIBOR, announced that subject to confirmation following its consultation with the administrator of LIBOR, it would cease publication of the and U.S. dollar LIBOR immediately after December 31, 2021 and cease publication of the remaining tenors immediately after June 30, 2023. Additionally, the Federal Reserve Board has advised banks to stop entering into new U.S. dollar LIBOR based contracts.

The future internal rate of return for any current or future fund may vary considerably from the historical internal rate of return generated by any particular fund, or for our funds as a whole. In addition, future returns will be affected by the applicable risks described elsewhere in this Annual Report on including risks of the industries and businesses in which a particular fund invests.

Further, some matters covered by our diligence, such as ESG, are continuously evolving and we may not accurately or fully anticipate such evolution. For instance, our ESG framework does not represent a universally recognized standard for assessing ESG considerations as there are different frameworks and methodologies being implemented by other asset managers, in addition to numerous international initiatives on the subject. For example, certain EEA regulatory initiatives require us to manage and monitor sustainability risks in the portfolios of funds managed by our EEA AIFMs, but regulatory expectations as to how this should be done are unclear. The steps that we may be obligated to take under these initiatives in order to manage and report to investors on concentrations of sustainability risk may make our funds less attractive to investors, and any with such initiatives may subject us to regulatory action. In addition, when conducting due diligence on investments, including with respect to investments made by our funds of hedge funds in third party hedge funds, we rely on the resources available to us and information supplied by third parties, including information provided by the target of the investment (or, in the case of investments in a third party hedge fund, information provided by such hedge fund or its service providers). The information we receive from third parties may not be accurate or complete and therefore we may not have all the relevant facts and information necessary to properly assess and monitor our funds’ investment.

Many of our investment funds generally invest a significant portion of their assets in the equity, debt, loans or other securities of issuers located outside the United States. International investments have increased and we expect will continue to increase as a proportion of certain of our funds’ portfolios in the future. Investments in securities involve certain factors not typically associated with investing in U.S. securities, including risks relating to:

In certain circumstances, at the end of the life of a carry fund (or earlier with respect to certain of our real estate funds, real estate debt funds and certain multi-asset class and/or opportunistic investment funds), as a result of diminished performance of later investments in any carry fund’s life, we may be obligated to repay the amount by which Performance Allocations that were previously distributed to us exceed the amounts to which the relevant general partner is ultimately entitled on an basis. This includes situations in which the general partner receives in excess of the relevant Performance Allocations applicable to the fund as applied to the fund’s cumulative net profits over the life of the fund or, in some cases, the fund has not achieved investment returns that exceed the preferred return threshold. This obligation is known as a “clawback” obligation and is an obligation of any person who received such Performance Allocations, including us and other participants in our Performance Allocations plans. Although a portion of any dividends by us to our stockholders may include any Performance Allocations received by us, we do not intend to seek fulfillment of any clawback obligation by seeking to have our stockholders return any portion of such dividends attributable to Performance Allocations associated with any clawback obligation. To the extent we are required to fulfill a clawback obligation, however, our board of directors may determine to decrease the amount of our dividends to our stockholders. The clawback obligation operates with respect to a given carry fund’s own net investment performance only and performance of other funds are not netted for determining this contingent obligation.

Adverse economic conditions may increase the likelihood that one or more of our carry funds may be subject to clawback obligations upon the end of their respective lives (or earlier with respect to certain of our real estate funds, real estate debt funds and certain multi-asset class and/or opportunistic investment funds). To the extent one or more clawback obligations were to occur for any one or more carry funds, we might not have available cash at the time such clawback obligation is triggered to repay the Performance Allocations and satisfy such obligation. If we were unable to repay such Performance Allocations, we would be in breach of the governing agreements with our investors and could be subject to liability. Moreover, although a clawback obligation is several, the governing agreements of most of our funds provide that to the extent another recipient of Performance Allocations (such as a current or former employee) does not fund his or her respective share, then we and our employees who participate in such Performance Allocations plans may have to fund additional amounts (generally an additional beyond our share of such obligations) beyond what we actually received in Performance Allocations, although we retain the right to pursue any remedies that we have under such governing agreements against those Performance Allocations recipients who fail to fund their obligations.

The governing agreements of most of our investment funds (with the exception of certain of our funds of hedge funds, hedge funds, certain credit-focused and real estate debt funds, and other funds or separately managed accounts for the benefit of one or more specified investors) provide that, subject to certain conditions, third party investors in those funds have the right to remove the general partner of the fund or to accelerate the termination date of the investment fund without cause by a majority or supermajority vote, resulting in a reduction in management fees we would earn from such investment funds and a significant reduction in the amounts of Performance Allocations and Incentive Fees from those funds. Performance Allocations and Incentive Fees could be significantly reduced as a result of our inability to maximize the value of investments by an investment fund during the liquidation process or in the event of the triggering of a “clawback” obligation. In addition, the governing agreements of our investment funds provide that in the event certain “key persons” in our investment funds do not meet specified time commitments with regard to managing the fund, then investors in certain funds have the right to vote to terminate the investment period by a specified percentage (including, in certain cases, a simple majority) vote in accordance with specified procedures, accelerate the withdrawal of their capital on an basis, or the fund’s investment period will automatically terminate and a specified percentage (including, in certain cases, a simple majority) vote of investors is required to restart it. In addition, the governing agreements of some of our investment funds provide that investors have the right to terminate, for any reason, the investment period by a vote of 75% of the investors in such fund. In addition to having a significant negative impact on our revenue, net income and cash flow, the occurrence of such an event with respect to any of our investment funds would likely result in significant reputational damage to us.

and regulations, including real property and income tax rates and the taxation of business entities and the deductibility of corporate interest expense. In addition, if our real estate funds acquire direct or indirect interests in undeveloped land or underdeveloped real property, which may often be producing, they will be subject to the risks normally associated with such assets and development activities, including risks relating to the availability and timely receipt of zoning and other regulatory or environmental approvals, the cost and timely completion of construction (including risks beyond the control of our fund, such as weather or labor conditions or material shortages) and the availability of both construction and permanent financing on favorable terms.

In addition, at least one federal Circuit Court has determined that an investment fund could be liable for ERISA Title IV pension obligations (including withdrawal liability incurred with respect to union multiemployer plans) of its portfolio companies, if such fund is a “trade or business” and the fund’s ownership interest in the portfolio company is significant enough to bring the investment fund within the portfolio company’s “controlled group.” While a number of cases have held that managing investments is not a “trade or business” for tax purposes, the Circuit Court in this case concluded the investment fund could be a “trade or business” for ERISA purposes based on certain factors, including the fund’s level of involvement in the management of its portfolio companies and the nature of its management fee arrangements. Litigation related to the Circuit Court’s decision suggests that additional factors may be relevant for purposes of determining whether an investment fund could face “controlled group” liability under ERISA, including the structure of the investment and the nature of the fund’s relationship with other affiliated investors and in the portfolio company. Moreover, regardless of whether an investment fund is determined to be a “trade or business” for purposes of ERISA, a court might hold that one of the fund’s portfolio companies could become jointly and severally liable for another portfolio company’s unfunded pension liabilities pursuant to the ERISA “controlled group” rules, depending upon the relevant investment structures and ownership interests as noted above.

The development, operation and maintenance of power and energy generation facilities involves many risks, including, as applicable, labor issues, risks, breakdown or failure of facilities, lack of sufficient capital to maintain the facilities and the dependence on a specific fuel source. Power and energy generation facilities in which our funds invest are also subject to risks associated with volatility in the price of fuel sources and the impact of unusual or adverse weather conditions or other natural events, such as droughts, as well as the risk of performance below expected levels of output, efficiency or reliability. The occurrence of any such items could result in lost revenues and/or increased expenses. In turn, such developments could impair a portfolio company’s ability to repay its debt or conduct its operations. We may also choose or be required to decommission a power generation facility or other asset. The decommissioning process could be protracted and result in the incurrence of significant financial and/or regulatory obligations or other uncertainties.

The power and energy sectors are the subject of substantial and complex laws, rules and regulation by various federal and state regulatory agencies. Failure to comply with applicable laws, rules and regulations could result in the prevention of operation of certain facilities or the prevention of the sale of such a facility to a third party, as well as the loss of certain rate authority, refund liability, penalties and other remedies, all of which could result in additional costs to a portfolio company and adversely affect the investment results. In addition, the increased scrutiny placed by regulators, investors and other market participants in the ESG impact of investments made by our energy funds in recent years has negatively impacted and is likely to continue to negatively impact our ability to exit certain of our traditional energy investments on favorable terms. The current administration has focused on climate change policies and has the Paris Agreement, which includes commitments from countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, among other commitments. Executive orders signed by the President placed a temporary moratorium on new oil and gas leasing on public lands and offshore waters. Legislative efforts by the administration or the U.S. Congress to place additional limitations on coal and gas electric generation, mining and/or exploration could adversely affect our traditional energy investments.

Our funds may make investments of which they do not advantageously dispose of prior to the date the applicable fund is dissolved, either by expiration of such fund’s term or otherwise. Although we generally expect that our funds will dispose of investments prior to dissolution or that investments will be suitable for distribution at dissolution, we may not be able to do so. The general partners of our funds have only a limited ability to extend the term of the fund with the consent of fund investors or the advisory board of the fund, as applicable, and therefore, we may be required to sell, distribute or otherwise dispose of investments at a disadvantageous time prior to dissolution. This would result in a lower than expected return on the investments and, perhaps, on the fund itself.

assets. In addition, we will generally not be subject to the and provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. As a result, our common shareholders do not have an opportunity to provide a vote on the compensation of our named executive officers. Moreover, holders of our common stock are not able to bring matters before our annual meeting of shareholders or nominate directors at such meeting, nor are they generally able to submit shareholder proposals under Rule of the Exchange Act.

Even if there is deemed to be a breach of the obligations set forth in our certificate of incorporation, our certificate of incorporation provides that the Series II Preferred Stockholder will not be liable to us or the holders of our common stock for any acts or omissions unless there has been a final and judgment by a court of competent jurisdiction determining that the Series II Preferred Stockholder or its officers and directors acted in bad faith or engaged in fraud or willful misconduct. These provisions are detrimental to the holders of our common stock because they restrict the remedies available to stockholders for actions of the Series II Preferred Stockholder.

Our intention to pay to holders of common stock a quarterly dividend representing approximately 85% of Blackstone Inc.’s share of Distributable Earnings, subject to adjustment by amounts determined by Blackstone’s board of directors to be necessary or appropriate to provide for the conduct of its business, to make appropriate investments in its business and our funds, to comply with applicable law, any of its debt instruments or other agreements, or to provide for future cash requirements such as payments, clawback obligations and dividends to stockholders for any ensuing quarter. All of the foregoing is subject to the qualification that the declaration and payment of any dividends are at the sole discretion of our board of directors, and may change at any time, including, without limitation, to reduce such quarterly dividends or to eliminate such dividends entirely.

As of December 31, 2021, we have $284.4 million of finite-lived intangible assets (in addition to $1.9 billion of goodwill), net of accumulated amortization. These finite-lived intangible assets are from the initial public offering (“IPO”) and subsequent business acquisitions. We are amortizing these finite-lived intangibles over their estimated useful lives, which range from three to twenty years, using the straight-line method, with a weighted-average remaining amortization period of 7.2 years as of December 31, 2021. We also record equity-based compensation from grants made in the ordinary course of business and in connection with other business acquisitions. The amortization of these finite-lived intangible assets and of this equity-based compensation will increase our expenses during the relevant periods. These expenses may increase the net loss we record in certain periods or cause us to record a net loss in periods during which we would otherwise have recorded net income. A substantial and sustained decline in our share price could result in an impairment of intangible assets or goodwill leading to a further reduction in net income or increase to net loss in the relevant period.

As part of the reorganization we implemented in connection with our IPO, we purchased interests in our business from our owners. In addition, holders of partnership units in Blackstone Holdings (other than Blackstone Inc.’s wholly owned subsidiaries), subject to the vesting and minimum retained ownership requirements and transfer restrictions set forth in the partnership agreements of the Blackstone Holdings Partnerships, may up to four times each year (subject to the terms of the exchange agreement) exchange their Blackstone Holdings Partnership Units for shares of Blackstone Inc.’s common stock on a basis. A Blackstone Holdings limited partner must exchange one partnership unit in each of the Blackstone Holdings Partnerships to effect an exchange for a share of common stock. The purchase and subsequent exchanges are expected to result in increases in the tax basis of the tangible and intangible assets of Blackstone Holdings that otherwise would not have been available. These increases in tax basis may increase (for tax purposes) depreciation and amortization and therefore reduce the amount of tax that we would otherwise be required to pay in the future, although the IRS may challenge all or part of that tax basis increase, and a court could sustain such a challenge.

We have entered into a tax receivable agreements with our senior managing directors and other owners that provides for the payment by us to the counterparties of 85% of the amount of cash savings, if any, in U.S. federal, state and local income tax or franchise tax that we actually realize as a result of these increases in tax basis and of certain other tax benefits related to entering into the tax receivable agreement, including tax benefits attributable to payments under the tax receivable agreement. This payment obligation is an obligation of Blackstone Inc. and/or its wholly owned subsidiaries and not of Blackstone Holdings. As such, the cash distributions to public stockholders may vary from holders of Blackstone Holdings Partnership Units (held by Blackstone personnel and others) to the extent payments are made under the tax receivable agreements to selling holders of Blackstone Holdings Partnership Units. As the payments reflect actual tax savings received by Blackstone entities, there may be a timing difference between the tax savings received by Blackstone entities and the cash payments to selling holders of Blackstone Holdings Partnership Units. While the actual increase in tax basis, as well as the amount and timing of any payments under this agreement, will vary depending upon a number of factors, including the timing of exchanges, the price of our common stock at the time of the exchange, the extent to which such exchanges are taxable and the amount and timing of our income, we expect that as a result of the size of the increases in the tax basis of the tangible and intangible assets of Blackstone Holdings, the payments that we may make under the tax receivable agreements will be substantial. The payments under a tax receivable agreement are not conditioned upon a tax receivable agreement counterparty’s continued ownership of us. We may need to incur debt to finance payments under the tax receivable agreement to the extent our cash resources are insufficient to meet our obligations under the tax receivable agreements as a result of timing discrepancies or otherwise.

An entity will generally be deemed to be an “investment company” for purposes of the 1940 Act if: (a) it is or holds itself out as being engaged primarily, or proposes to engage primarily, in the business of investing, reinvesting or trading in securities, or (b) absent an applicable exemption, it owns or proposes to acquire investment securities having a value exceeding 40% of the value of its total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. We believe that we are engaged primarily in the business of providing asset management and capital markets services and not in the business of investing, reinvesting or trading in securities. We also believe that the primary source of income from each of our businesses is properly characterized as income earned in exchange for the provision of services. We hold ourselves out as an asset management and capital markets firm and do not propose to engage primarily in the business of investing, reinvesting or trading in securities. Accordingly, we do not believe that Blackstone Inc. is an “orthodox” investment company as defined in section 3(a)(1)(A) of the 1940 Act and described in clause (a) in the first sentence of this paragraph. Furthermore, Blackstone Inc. does not have any material assets other than its equity interests in certain wholly owned subsidiaries, which in turn will have no material assets (other than intercompany debt) other than general partner interests in the Blackstone Holdings Partnerships. These wholly owned subsidiaries are the sole general partners of the Blackstone Holdings Partnerships and are vested with all management and control over the Blackstone Holdings Partnerships. We do not believe the equity interests of Blackstone Inc. in its wholly owned subsidiaries or the general partner interests of these wholly owned subsidiaries in the Blackstone Holdings Partnerships are investment securities. Moreover, because we believe that the capital interests of the general partners of our funds in their respective funds are neither securities nor investment securities, we believe that less than 40% of Blackstone Inc.’s total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis are comprised of assets that could be considered investment securities. Accordingly, we do not believe Blackstone Inc. is an inadvertent investment company by virtue of the 40% test in section 3(a)(1)(C) of the 1940 Act as described in clause (b) in the first sentence of this paragraph. In addition, we believe Blackstone Inc. is not an investment company under section 3(b)(1) of the 1940 Act because it is primarily engaged in a company business.

The market price of our common stock could decline as a result of sales of a large number of shares of common stock in the market in the future or the perception that such sales could occur. These sales, or the possibility that these sales may occur, also might make it more difficult for us to sell shares of common stock in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate. We had a total of 700,387,302 shares of common stock outstanding as of February 18, 2022. Subject to the restrictions described below, we may issue and sell in the future additional shares of common stock. Limited partners of Blackstone Holdings owned an aggregate of 443,024,243 Blackstone Holdings Partnership Units outstanding as of February 18, 2022. In connection with our initial public offering, we entered into an exchange agreement with holders of Blackstone Holdings Partnership Units (other than Blackstone Inc.’s wholly owned subsidiaries) so that these holders, subject to the vesting and minimum retained ownership requirements and transfer restrictions set forth in the partnership agreements of the Blackstone Holdings Partnerships, may up to four times each year (subject to the terms of the exchange agreement) exchange their Blackstone Holdings Partnership Units for shares of Blackstone Inc. common stock on a basis, subject to customary conversion rate adjustments for splits, unit distributions and reclassifications. A Blackstone Holdings limited partner must exchange one partnership unit in each of the Blackstone Holdings Partnerships to effect an exchange for a share of common stock. The common stock we issue upon such exchanges would be “restricted securities,” as defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act, unless we register such issuances. However, we have entered into a registration rights agreement with the limited partners of Blackstone Holdings that requires us to register these shares of common stock under the Securities Act and we have filed registration statements that cover the delivery of common stock issued upon exchange of Blackstone Holdings Partnership Units. See “Part III. Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence — Transactions with Related Persons — Registration Rights Agreement.” While the partnership agreements of the Blackstone Holdings Partnerships and related agreements contractually restrict the ability of Blackstone personnel to transfer the Blackstone Holdings Partnership Units or Blackstone Inc. common stock they hold and require that they maintain a minimum amount of equity ownership during their employ by us, these contractual provisions may lapse over time or be waived, modified or amended at any time.

As of February 18, 2022, we had granted 34,236,188 outstanding deferred restricted shares of common stock and 22,970,133 outstanding deferred restricted Blackstone Holdings Partnership Units to our managing director professionals and senior managing directors under the Blackstone Inc. Amended and Restated 2007 Equity Incentive Plan (“2007 Equity Incentive Plan”). The aggregate number of shares of common stock and Blackstone Holdings Partnership Units (together, “Shares”) covered by our 2007 Equity Incentive Plan is increased on the first day of each fiscal year during its term by a number of Shares equal to the positive difference, if any, of (a) 15% of the aggregate number of Shares outstanding on the last day of the immediately preceding fiscal year (excluding Blackstone Holdings Partnership Units held by Blackstone Inc. or its wholly owned subsidiaries) minus

(b) the aggregate number of Shares covered by our 2007 Equity Incentive Plan as of such date (unless the administrator of the 2007 Equity Incentive Plan should decide to increase the number of Shares covered by the plan by a lesser amount). An aggregate of 168,885,553 additional Shares were available for grant under our 2007 Equity Incentive Plan as of February 18, 2022. We have filed a registration statement and intend to file additional registration statements on Form under the Securities Act to register common stock covered by the 2007 Equity Incentive Plan (including pursuant to automatic annual increases). Any such Form registration statement will automatically become effective upon filing. Accordingly, common stock registered under such registration statement will be available for sale in the open market.

Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provision in our amended and restated bylaws. This provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a different judicial forum, including one that it may find favorable or convenient for a specified class of disputes with Blackstone or our directors,

Our intention is to pay to holders of common stock a quarterly dividend representing approximately 85% of Blackstone Inc.’s share of Distributable Earnings, subject to adjustment by amounts determined by our board of directors to be necessary or appropriate to provide for the conduct of our business, to make appropriate investments in our business and funds, to comply with applicable law, any of our debt instruments or other agreements, or to provide for future cash requirements such as payments, clawback obligations and dividends to shareholders for any ensuing quarter. The dividend amount could also be adjusted upward in any one quarter.

Because Blackstone Inc. is a holding company and has no material assets, other than its ownership of partnership units in Blackstone Holdings (held through wholly owned subsidiaries), intercompany loans receivable and deferred tax assets, we fund any dividends by Blackstone Inc. by causing Blackstone Holdings to make distributions to its partners, including Blackstone Inc. (through its wholly owned subsidiaries). If Blackstone Holdings makes such distributions, the limited partners of Blackstone Holdings will be entitled to receive equivalent distributions based on their partnership interests in Blackstone Holdings. Blackstone Inc. then dividends its share of such distributions, net of taxes and amounts payable under the tax receivable agreements, to our shareholders on a basis.

In addition, the partnership agreements of the Blackstone Holdings Partnerships provide for cash distributions, which we refer to as “tax distributions,” to the partners of such partnerships if the wholly owned subsidiaries of Blackstone Inc. which are the general partners of the Blackstone Holdings Partnerships determine that the taxable income of the relevant partnership will give rise to taxable income for its partners. Generally, these tax distributions will be computed based on our estimate of the net taxable income of the relevant partnership allocable to a partner multiplied by an assumed tax rate equal to the highest effective marginal combined U.S. federal, state and local income tax rate prescribed for an individual or corporate resident in New York, New York (taking into account the of certain expenses and the character of our income). The Blackstone Holdings Partnerships will make tax distributions only to the extent distributions from such partnerships for the relevant year were otherwise insufficient to cover such estimated assumed tax liabilities.

As permitted by, and subject to, our policies and procedures governing transactions in our securities by our directors, executive officers and other employees, from time to time some of these persons may establish plans or arrangements complying with under the Exchange Act, and similar plans and arrangements relating to our shares and Blackstone Holdings Partnership Units.

We generate revenue from fees earned pursuant to contractual arrangements with funds, fund investors and fund portfolio companies (including management, transaction and monitoring fees), and from capital markets services. We also invest in the funds we manage and we are entitled to a share of the results of the fund (a allocation”). In addition to a allocation, and assuming certain investment returns are achieved, we are entitled to a disproportionate allocation of the income otherwise allocable to the limited partners, commonly referred to as carried interest (“Performance Allocations”). In certain structures, we receive a contractual incentive fee from an investment fund in the event that specified cumulative investment returns are achieved (an “Incentive Fee,” and together with Performance Allocations, “Performance Revenues”). The composition of our revenues will vary based on market conditions and the cyclicality of the different businesses in which we operate. Net investment gains and investment income generated by the Blackstone Funds are driven by value created by our operating and strategic initiatives as well as overall market conditions. Fair values are affected by changes in the fundamentals of our portfolio company and other investments, the industries in which they operate, the overall economy and other market conditions.

Our primary focus during the pandemic has been the safety and wellbeing of our employees and their families, as well as the seamless functioning of the firm in serving our investors who have entrusted us with their capital, and our shareholders. Where remote work has been appropriate or recommended under local government guidelines, our technology infrastructure has proven to be robust and capable of supporting a remote work model and we have implemented rigorous protocols for remote work across the firm, including increased cadence of group calls and updates, and frequent communication across leadership and working levels. We have also leveraged technology to ensure our teams stay connected and productive, and that our culture remains strong. To the extent we have not been meeting with our clients in person, we have continued to actively communicate with them through videoconference, teleconference and email. Our investment committees have also continued to convene as needed, and the firm has continued to operate across investment, asset management and corporate support functions. Our return to office protocols have been developed and implemented consistent with local government guidelines, with testing, contact-tracing and social distancing and other safety protocols in place, and we continue to closely monitor applicable public health and government guidance and the proliferation of variants.

In 2021, economic conditions strongly rebounded from the prior year, particularly in the U.S., which was significantly affected by the pandemic in 2020. The Bureau of Economic Analysis’ advance estimate of U.S. real GDP growth indicated growth of 5.7% in 2021, after a 3.4% decline in GDP in 2020. This estimate for 2021 would equate to the fastest rate of economic growth in nearly 40 years. At the same time, in December 2021, annual U.S. inflation reached a high of 7.0%, leading the U.S. Federal Reserve to indicate a plan to begin to increase interest rates in the near term. Despite strong equity market returns overall for 2021, concerns over inflation, higher interest rates and the impact of COVID variants on economic growth led to heightened equity market volatility exiting the year, and such volatility continued into early 2022. Global supply chains have also continued to be disrupted, particularly given China’s recurrent COVID restrictions. Such disruption has contributed to growing inflationary pressure and may further contribute to slower real GDP growth globally.

The S&P 500 Total Return Index increased 11% in the fourth quarter of 2021 and 29% in 2021, with strong appreciation across sectors, led by energy and real estate. The Bloomberg Commodity Index fell by in the fourth quarter but rose more than 27% for the year. The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil increased 55% to $75 per barrel for the year.

Throughout 2021, the U.S. Federal Reserve maintained the federal funds target range at the range set in March 2020 in response to the onset of The yield on the Treasury remained relatively flat in the fourth quarter, ending the year at 1.51%, but has risen sharply so far in 2022, to 1.96% as of February 17, 2022. Three-month LIBOR increased eight basis points in the fourth quarter to 0.21%, and further to 0.49% as of February 16, 2022. Subsequent to the end of 2021, the U.S. Federal Reserve indicated that it foresees up to three quarter-percentage-point interest rate increases in 2022, beginning as early as March 2022, with continued increases expected in 2023 and 2024.

Countries around the world continue to recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic. While economic activity remains robust, global supply chain disruptions, labor shortages and rising commodity prices continue to have a negative impact across sectors and regions, and concerns regarding inflation and increasing interest rates are deepening.

We manage our business using certain financial measures and key operating metrics since we believe these metrics measure the productivity of our investment activities. We prepare our Consolidated Financial Statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”). See “— Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data — Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements — Note 2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” and “— Critical Accounting Policies.” Our key financial measures and operating indicators and metrics are discussed below.

Distributable Earnings is derived from Blackstone’s segment reported results. Distributable Earnings is used to assess performance and amounts available for dividends to Blackstone shareholders, including Blackstone personnel and others who are limited partners of the Blackstone Holdings Partnerships. Distributable Earnings is the sum of Segment Distributable Earnings plus Net Interest and Dividend Income (Loss) less Taxes and Related Payables. Distributable Earnings excludes unrealized activity and is derived from and reconciled to, but not equivalent to, its most directly comparable GAAP measure of Income (Loss) Before Provision (Benefit) for Taxes. See “— Financial Measures” for our reconciliation of Distributable Earnings.

Segment Distributable Earnings is Blackstone’s segment profitability measure used to make operating decisions and assess performance across Blackstone’s four segments. Segment Distributable Earnings represents the net realized earnings of Blackstone’s segments and is the sum of Fee Related Earnings and Net Realizations for each segment. Blackstone’s segments are presented on a basis that deconsolidates Blackstone Funds, eliminates ownership interests in Blackstone’s consolidated operating partnerships, removes the amortization of intangible assets and removes Transaction-Related Charges. Transaction-Related Charges arise from corporate actions including acquisitions, divestitures and Blackstone’s initial public offering. They consist primarily of equity-based compensation charges, gains and losses on contingent consideration arrangements, changes in the balance of the Tax Receivable Agreement resulting from a change in tax law or similar event, transaction costs and any gains or losses associated with these corporate actions. Segment Distributable Earnings excludes unrealized activity and is derived from and reconciled to, but not equivalent to, its most directly comparable GAAP measure of Income (Loss) Before Provision (Benefit) for Taxes. See “— Financial Measures” for our reconciliation of Segment Distributable Earnings.

Related Performance Revenues, less (a) Fee Related Compensation on a segment basis, and (b) Other Operating Expenses. Fee Related Earnings is derived from and reconciled to, but not equivalent to, its most directly comparable GAAP measure of Income (Loss) Before Provision (Benefit) for Taxes. See “— Financial Measures” for our reconciliation of Fee Related Earnings.

Adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Taxes and Depreciation and Amortization (“Adjusted EBITDA”), is a supplemental measure used to assess performance derived from Blackstone’s segment results and may be used to assess its ability to service its borrowings. Adjusted EBITDA represents Distributable Earnings plus the addition of (a) Interest Expense on a segment basis, (b) Taxes and Related Payables, and (c) Depreciation and Amortization. Adjusted EBITDA is derived from and reconciled to, but not equivalent to, its most directly comparable GAAP measure of Income (Loss) Before Provision (Benefit) for Taxes. See “— Financial Measures” for our reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA.

Net Accrued Performance Revenues is a financial measure used as an indicator of potential future realized performance revenues based on the current investment portfolio of the funds and vehicles we manage. Net Accrued Performance Revenues represents the accrued performance revenues receivable by Blackstone, net of the related accrued performance compensation payable by Blackstone, excluding Performance Revenues that have been realized but not yet distributed as of the reporting date and clawback amounts, if any. Net Accrued Performance Revenues is derived from and reconciled to, but not equivalent to, its most directly comparable GAAP measure of Investments. See Financial Measures” for our reconciliation of Net Accrued Performance Revenues and Note 2 “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies — Equity Method Investments” in the “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” in “— Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.” for additional information on the calculation of Investments — Accrued Performance Allocations.

Assets Under Management refers to the assets we manage on which we derive management fees and/or performance revenues. Our Assets Under Management equals the sum of:

Each of our segments may include certain Assets Under Management on which we earn performance revenues but not management fees.

Our calculations of Total Assets Under Management and Assets Under Management may differ from the calculations of other asset managers, and as a result this measure may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other asset managers. In addition, our calculation of Total Assets Under Management includes commitments to, and the fair value of, invested capital in our funds from Blackstone and our personnel, regardless of whether such commitments or invested capital are subject to fees. Our definitions of Total Assets Under Management and Assets Under Management are not based on any definition of total assets under management and assets under management that is set forth in the agreements governing the investment funds that we manage.

For our carry funds, Total Assets Under Management includes the fair value of the investments held and uncalled capital commitments, whereas Assets Under Management may include the total amount of capital commitments or the remaining amount of invested capital at cost depending on whether the investment period has expired or as specified by the fee terms of the fund. As such, in certain carry funds Assets Under Management may be greater than Total Assets Under Management when the aggregate fair value of the remaining investments is less than the cost of those investments.

Perpetual Capital refers to the component of assets under management with an indefinite term, that is not in liquidation, and for which there is no requirement to return capital to investors through redemption requests in the ordinary course of business, except where funded by new capital inflows. Perpetual Capital includes capital with an investor right to convert into Perpetual Capital.

Following is a discussion of our consolidated results of operations. For a more detailed discussion of the factors that affected the results of our four business segments (which are presented on a basis that deconsolidates the investment funds, eliminates ownership interests in Blackstone’s consolidated operating partnerships and removes the amortization of intangibles assets and Transaction-Related Charges) in these periods, see “— Segment Analysis” below.