HIGHLIGHTS: Jonathan Gray - President and COO of Blackstone

Hi everybody, tune in to this short version of the podcast, which we do every Friday. For the long version, tune in on Wednesdays. Hi everybody, I'm Nikola Tanjen, the CEO of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund, and today I'm here with John Gray. Now, John Gray, COO of Blackstone. Previously the head of real estate here and incredibly under his leadership, Blackstone's real estate division has become the biggest in the world.

You grew it from some 5 billion to more than 300 billion and you are known for some of the best deals in real estate the world has ever seen, such as the Hilton Hotel, which you took off market and I'm back on the market. And wow, well done. Great to be here with you, Nikolai. And you're taking off the tie today? I took off the tie because I watched your stuff and I didn't want to be overdressed.

That's great. Now, in short, why has Blackstone been successful? I think we've been successful for a couple of reasons. The main one is we've never forgotten what our mission is, which is delivering for our customers. And that means delivering premium returns.

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