How Jonathan built the fortune
Jonathan Gray has spent his entire career at Blackstone, joining the firm straight out of college in 1992 when it was still a fairly small partnership. He was assigned to the young real estate group and spent the next two decades building it into the largest private owner of commercial property in the world. His wealth comes from Blackstone shares accumulated over that time and from his participation in the profits of the funds he oversaw. Real estate became one of Blackstone's largest and most profitable businesses during his tenure, and its funds grew to manage hundreds of billions of dollars across offices, logistics, housing, hotels and data centres.
Gray became known for large, well timed bets. In 2007, near the peak of the credit boom, Blackstone bought Equity Office Properties and then quickly resold much of its portfolio, and in the same year it took Hilton Hotels private. The Hilton deal suffered during the financial crisis, but Gray and his team restructured the debt, improved operations and took the company public again in 2013, producing one of the most profitable private equity investments on record. After the crisis he led Blackstone into buying distressed property, including tens of thousands of single family homes that became Invitation Homes, and later into warehouses for e-commerce. Investments in rental housing and logistics reflected a view that the way people live and shop was changing, and both became large parts of Blackstone's real estate portfolio.
In 2018 Stephen Schwarzman named him president and chief operating officer of Blackstone, positioning him as the likely successor to the co-founder. In that role he oversees the firm's investing businesses, which span private equity, credit, infrastructure, life sciences and insurance, as well as real estate.
Companies and holdings
Most of his fortune is held in Blackstone stock, which he received through partnership units and compensation over three decades. Blackstone converted from a partnership to a corporation in 2019, which broadened ownership of its shares among index funds and increased the market value of insiders' holdings. Like other senior partners, he receives a share of performance fees earned when Blackstone funds sell investments at a profit, as well as dividends on the shares he owns.
- Blackstone, president, chief operating officer and board member
- Former global head of Blackstone Real Estate
- Investments in Blackstone funds alongside clients
- Board roles at portfolio companies earlier in his career, including Hilton
Early life and career
Gray grew up in the suburbs north of Chicago and attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a bachelor's degree in English and a separate degree in economics from the Wharton School. At Penn he met his wife, Mindy, and the couple later became significant donors to the university.
He joined Blackstone as an analyst in 1992 and moved to the real estate team, where he learned the business through hotel, office and apartment acquisitions in the aftermath of the early 1990s property slump. He became co-head of real estate in 2005 and later sole global head, building a team that raised record sized property funds and opened offices across Europe and Asia. Colleagues credited him with a data driven approach to property investing, focused on identifying long term trends in demand rather than on individual buildings.
Philanthropy and public life
Jon and Mindy Gray's best known giving is in cancer research. After Mindy's sister died of ovarian cancer linked to a BRCA gene mutation, the couple founded the Basser Center for BRCA at Penn Medicine, named after her family, and have since given large sums to research on hereditary cancers. Their Gray Foundation funds early detection and treatment work in this field. They have also supported education and other causes in New York. The couple have also made gifts to Penn for other purposes and have supported organisations working on hunger and education.
As one of the most prominent figures in alternative asset management, Gray speaks regularly at industry conferences and in the business press about markets and interest rates. He keeps his personal life largely private. He has served on boards of nonprofit and educational institutions, including at Penn.