The company offers a platform that helps mobile app developers market their apps and was formed in 2021 through a merger of Liftoff and Vungle. Blackstone acquired the majority of its shares at the time and the finance giant also appointed new leadership, meaning it is no longer a founder-run company. After the offering, Blackstone will remain the majority shareholder, according to the S-1 filing.
During a September presentation, Gray said the firm's job acceptance rate for its 2025 analyst class dropped to just 0.2%, with 57,000 applications for just 138 entry-level roles. That's down from the already incredibly selective 0.4% in 2021, when 29,000 people applied for 103 first-year analyst roles. As the industry continues to grow in size - Blackstone, for its part, is managing over $1 trillion for clients - the private equity career path has stepped front and center for ambitious young people.
The recent failures of auto lender Tricolor and auto-parts manufacturer First Brands, which JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon dubbed "cockroaches," had the biggest names on Wall Street pointing fingers last week. Blackstone has been paying attention too, but on its third-quarter earnings call on Thursday, the company had a clear message: any attempts to tie these bankruptcies to private credit are fake news.