Jon Gray on CNBC: Why AI Is Central to Blackstone’s Strategy
Jon Gray on CNBC: Why AI Is Central to Blackstone’s Strategy
David Faber, CNBC: Is it fair to say then that what you just described, AI in general, has become the defining strategic narrative at Blackstone?
Jon Gray, Blackstone President & COO: I think that’s a fair statement. I think if you look across our business units, this is where we’re leaning in. And it doesn’t matter if it’s real estate or infrastructure or private equity, credit. When you look in the first quarter, the results we produced for our investors, and as you know, it’s all about performance. Do we deliver performance? Eight of the ten best performing investments we had were in this space. They were battery charging companies, they were energy companies, LLMs, and the data center space obviously has become very large.
DF: Anthropic, Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, Goldman Sachs announcing the formation of a new AI-native enterprise services firm that will work with companies to rapidly bring Claude into their core business operations. What is this and why are you doing it?
JG: Well, it really gets at a key gap that exists today. You have these super powerful models that Anthropic has created, and then on the other side, you’ve got all these companies who wanna get this technology into their business. How do I change marketing compliance? How do I change financial reporting? How do I make customer engagement better? And so the question is, how do you bridge that gap? And so what we’re doing here with Anthropic and some other leading investment firms is create what you call a deployment company, an AI deployment company that can make that a reality. We’ve got 275 companies. They’re very interested in using Anthropic’s enterprise technology, but they’re saying, “Can you help me get there? Can you help me change the workflow?” And if you said, “What’s the biggest issue today with AI?” It’s this diffusion. How do you take this super powerful technology that a company like Anthropic has and put it into your businesses? I think it’ll make a real difference for our companies.
Note: Neither this video nor any of the information contained herein constitutes an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any security, Blackstone fund or other investment vehicle or strategy. Past performance does not predict future returns, and there is no assurance that any Blackstone fund will achieve its objectives or avoid significant losses. This video may contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties, and actual events or results or the actual performance of any investments may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated herein. Statements contained herein are based on current expectations, estimates, opinions, and/or beliefs of Blackstone or third parties as of the date of the recording and should not be construed as research or investment advice. There can be no assurance that views and opinions expressed in this recording will come to pass and are subject to change. There can be no assurances that any of the trends described herein will continue or will not reverse.
For information about Blackstone’s business, including risks and financial information, please refer to our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Additional information is available here at http://ir.blackstone.com. This video is owned by Blackstone and may not be downloaded, recorded or reused in any way without Blackstone’s express consent.
Jon Gray, Blackstone President & COO: I think that’s a fair statement. I think if you look across our business units, this is where we’re leaning in. And it doesn’t matter if it’s real estate or infrastructure or private equity, credit. When you look in the first quarter, the results we produced for our investors, and as you know, it’s all about performance. Do we deliver performance? Eight of the ten best performing investments we had were in this space. They were battery charging companies, they were energy companies, LLMs, and the data center space obviously has become very large.
DF: Anthropic, Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, Goldman Sachs announcing the formation of a new AI-native enterprise services firm that will work with companies to rapidly bring Claude into their core business operations. What is this and why are you doing it?
JG: Well, it really gets at a key gap that exists today. You have these super powerful models that Anthropic has created, and then on the other side, you’ve got all these companies who wanna get this technology into their business. How do I change marketing compliance? How do I change financial reporting? How do I make customer engagement better? And so the question is, how do you bridge that gap? And so what we’re doing here with Anthropic and some other leading investment firms is create what you call a deployment company, an AI deployment company that can make that a reality. We’ve got 275 companies. They’re very interested in using Anthropic’s enterprise technology, but they’re saying, “Can you help me get there? Can you help me change the workflow?” And if you said, “What’s the biggest issue today with AI?” It’s this diffusion. How do you take this super powerful technology that a company like Anthropic has and put it into your businesses? I think it’ll make a real difference for our companies.
Note: Neither this video nor any of the information contained herein constitutes an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any security, Blackstone fund or other investment vehicle or strategy. Past performance does not predict future returns, and there is no assurance that any Blackstone fund will achieve its objectives or avoid significant losses. This video may contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties, and actual events or results or the actual performance of any investments may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated herein. Statements contained herein are based on current expectations, estimates, opinions, and/or beliefs of Blackstone or third parties as of the date of the recording and should not be construed as research or investment advice. There can be no assurance that views and opinions expressed in this recording will come to pass and are subject to change. There can be no assurances that any of the trends described herein will continue or will not reverse.
For information about Blackstone’s business, including risks and financial information, please refer to our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Additional information is available here at http://ir.blackstone.com. This video is owned by Blackstone and may not be downloaded, recorded or reused in any way without Blackstone’s express consent.