This week, we speak with Joseph Baratta, who since 2012, has served as Global Head of Private Equity at Blackstone – the world’s largest alternative asset manager, with $975 billion in assets under management. Baratta, who joined the firm in 1998, is also a member of the board of directors and serves on multiple management committees, as well as the firm’s investment committees.
He helped to build out Blackstone’s PE business in Europe in 2001, moving to London in 2001. We also discuss how Private Equity has developed over the past three decades from a small $50 billion alternative to a massive multi-trillion dollar investment sector.
Baratta explains how the firm thinks about dislocation and change, and the steps they take to make sure they are investing on the disruptor and not the disrupted side. As an example, the firm invested in Reese Witherspoon’s production company Hello Sunshine versus the legacy cable and satellite firms.
His current reading is here; A transcript of our conversation is available here Tuesday.
You can stream and download our full conversation, including any podcast extras, iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Stitcher, Google, Bloomberg, and Omny. All of our earlier podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here.
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business next week with Brian Hamburger, founder of MarketCounsel and Hamburger Law Firm. He is an entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, and advocate for independent investment advisers, which is a $97 trillion industry. MarketCounsel and Hamburger Law Firm are the leading business & regulatory compliance consultancy to the country’s preeminent entrepreneurial independent investment advisers in the investment and securities industry.
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