Blackstone, the world’s largest commercial property owner, said earnings available to investors reached a record high, boosted partly by nearly $1 billion in gains from investment sales or liquidations as the private equity giant sees deals accelerating.
The New York-based firm added that fourth-quarter results rose 3% to $2.24 billion, or $1.75 a share. CEO Stephen Schwarzman said Thursday on a call with Wall Street analysts that that result was the firm’s best since launching four decades ago. Net realizations from the sale or departure from other investments available to investors jumped 59% to $957 million, a growth driver to cap what Schwarzman also called a record year.
The New York company is also seeing its bet on artificial intelligence-related infrastructure pay off. Blackstone’s private equity infrastructure business generated an 8.4% return in the quarter, the biggest gain among all its segments. QTS, one of the world's largest data center providers, is part of that portfolio.
Jon Gray, Blackstone’s president and operating chief, described the deal environment as having “reached escape velocity on the back of moderating cost of capital” while the “AI revolution is creating generational opportunities to invest private capital at scale, both debt and equity, while creating attractive gains across multiple sectors.”
Blackstone makes other significant data center investments outside QTS. Digital infrastructure, an asset class including data centers and the electric power they need to operate, has “been among the largest drivers of appreciation” in Blackstone’s funds, Schwarzman said on the call.
Blackstone’s entire core-plus real estate arm that invests in stable properties with moderate risk posted a 1.5% return, after its flagship nontraded real estate investment trust Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust delivered an 8.1% net return in 2025, as the fund capitalized on surging demand for data centers. Riskier opportunistic real estate investing was the only segment within the Blackstone portfolio that delivered a loss in the quarter, at negative 0.3%.
"Continued significant strength in data centers" was "partly offset by headwinds in certain areas, such as life sciences, office and U.K. student housing" last quarter, Blackstone Chief Financial Officer Michael Chae said on the call.
Blackstone pulled in $71.5 billion in capital from investors, the highest amount in three and a half years. That included $8.3 billion for its real estate segment, as investors put money mostly on real estate credit and its more stable core-plus real estate investments. Total company assets under management reached a record of $1.3 trillion as Schwarzman, citing an analyst's research, said Blackstone has about a 50% share of all private wealth revenue among major alternative investment firms.
Dealmaking picks up
In a sign of deal activity picking up, Blackstone spent $42.2 billion shopping last quarter, adding to a total of $138 billion, an amount Schwarzman said was the highest in four years.
The real estate market has “been navigating the early stages" of the recovery, he said. “We said the cycle was bottoming two years ago, but that the recovery would not be a straight line. Since then, U.S. private real estate values have been slowly improving.”
Still, he described Blackstone’s deployment in real estate as “a little bit lumpy” and added that “sellers generally are a bit reluctant because people obviously want to see higher prices [and] … the sector recover. You will continue to see us find some big things to do. … We will continue to invest in AI infrastructure and data centers.”
Real estate values are still down 16% since the Federal Reserve began its string of rate hikes in 2022, compared to an increase of 75% for the S&P 500, Gray said, adding “we think real estate has plenty of room to run.”
Blackstone has invested over $50 billion in real estate since “the cycle trough two years ago” to capitalize on “choppy investor sentiment,” including an agreement to take private Hawaii landlord giant Alexander & Baldwin private announced in December. The transaction would allow Blackstone and its joint venture partners to gain control of the state's largest collection of grocery-anchored shopping centers.
Blackstone sees “a number of positive signs” that “point to a better year ahead,” Gray said.
For one, U.S. construction starts in both the logistics and multifamily sectors have fallen to the lowest levels in more than 12 years, he said, adding that lower borrowing costs and a pickup in transaction activity are among positive indicators. Blackstone saw improved logistics demand last quarter as its U.S. portfolio reported record leasing volume, he said.