I’ve seen all your resumes and college transcripts. You’re an impressive group... But it hasn’t all been perfect, has it? Most of you got some A-minuses in school. Some of you averaged A-minuses. Let me tell you something right now. The Blackstone Group is NOT an A-minus firm. A-minus work will NOT cut it here... So you had better turn it up a notch if you are to succeed. Now, let’s get to it. “As harsh as that first speech was, it was exactly what we needed to hear. With brutal honesty, Schwarzman set the tone right from the outset. He let us know that Blackstone was a special place and required more from us than a typical job.” At Blackstone, Root focused on troubled companies. “The appeal of this job was, if I could advise troubled companies – and help turn their operations around – then I would likely be able to identify the truly mission- critical business metrics that would help good businesses succeed and do even better.”
minimize the issue.” Portfolio managing, of course, is more than just knowing how to identify and help a troubled company... HOWTO FIND THE RIGHT STOCKS “I went to Soros Fund Management right after that, with the private-equity group there,” says Root. At the time, George Soros was far better known for “breaking the Bank of England” with his massive short sale during the 1992 Black Wednesday currency crisis – where he personally made $1 billion in a single day betting against the British pound – than for the extensive political funding he’s made since. “George’s son, Jonathan, was in our group. But George would kind of just come in on the big projects,” says Root. “He encouraged us, actually, within the private-equity group to make bigger
“ You need to have the right tools. And to me, one of ã¨ÂÊÜãó¼è¼ãÊÊ¼Ü in any investor tool kit «ÜÜ«èÃØÜãëâ Ê¡ÊØÕÊØãăÃë¼ statements.
bets when we saw something that was really interesting.” “We took that to heart,
“We’d be engaged by companies that were either trying to emerge from bankruptcy or avoid bankruptcy. Or they knew they were going to go in, and they wanted to figure out the best way to save their bacon. So we would either advise the company themselves or the debt-holders that were looking to
and doubled-down on our investment in JetBlue.” And ultimately, Soros Fund Management
would both become its largest shareholder and provide the company with capital to expand its route network across the nation.
American Consequences
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