This week’s episode of Money & Wealth was and is especially important – for two reasons. One, Joe Baratta is a new friend of mine and a very, very good man, by my estimations. And secondly, because he happens to run the largest single private equity platform in the world, with more than $1.2 trillion in assets under management, and this fact alone — matters to us all.
Blackstone is widely regarded as the largest private equity firm in the world based on certain industry rankings, particularly the PEI 300 list that measures private equity firms by the amount of private-equity capital raised. In that ranking, Blackstone holds the #1 spot globally.
Blackstone as a whole is the world’s largest alternative investment firm with over $1.2 trillion in assets under management, including private equity, real estate, credit, hedge funds, and other strategies. Most people simple do not understand what ‘private equity’ is, yet alone what it means and how it operates in the world. How it effects individuals, communities, cities and a country. what it means to business and the free enterprise system.
In this episode I sit down with my friend Joe Baratta. Joe is the Global Head of Private Equity at Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager. Baratta shares his remarkable journey from a modest upbringing in Sacramento to leading one of the most powerful private equity platforms in the world. Together we explore the real meaning of access, aspiration, relationship capital, and to quote our friend Michael Milken, ‘why talent and intelligence is universal, but opportunity is not.’
Additionally, as you listen from beginning to end, you will get the very real sense that Joe Baratta is a real person, who cares deeply about communities, and people. As successful as he is, he is still ‘one of us.’ This was the most inspiring part of our session together.
This episode is both a masterclass in economic empowerment and a reminder that the American Dream still exists, especially when leaders choose to widen the table and share the climb.
Tell your friends about it, and listen intently yourself. Here is a link to the full episode. All things are possible.
John Hope Bryant