Where others think annual download of (mostly dry) information to shareholders, Blackstone thinks: “lifestyle spread”.
Blackstone has produced an 80-page annual report, entitled “Welcome.” The main spiel from Steve Schwarzman is penned to “Dear Fellow Unitholders” but we didn’t get any further because we were agog at the pictures.
The photographic technique used results in what might be termed a “larger than life” portrayal of various of Blackstone’s staff and businesses. They certainly employed a heavy-handed colourist to do the touch-up work, not just on the photos but on the array of rainbow-daubed graphs. The Thames (page 5) is an unfamiliarly pleasant greenish-blue.
The Epicurean Dealmaker is unimpressed, and is betting that the figures have been spliced together with their oh-so vibrant city backdrops, in a characteristic rant.
It also tends to undermine the message Blackstone may have been trying to convey about its own humanity when the most lifelike figure in the entire report is the wax figure of Nicole Kidman at BX portfolio company Madame Tussauds.
DealJournal thinks it’s all a bit Reservoir Dogs.
We applaud the attempt to inject a little more glamour into finance. We’re just not sure finance is ready for this.
