Summary
Blackstone Inc. (BX) filed an 8-K on January 25, 2019, to disclose a significant change in how it presents financial performance. The company is now emphasizing "Distributable Earnings" as its primary performance metric for business segments, effective as of and for the three months ended December 31, 2018, with retrospective application to prior periods. This means historical financial information has been recast to reflect this change. Distributable Earnings is a non-GAAP measure designed to show net realized earnings excluding the effects of consolidating Blackstone Funds. Management believes this metric is more useful to unitholders than "Economic Income" or "Economic Net Income" because it aligns with how Blackstone makes operational decisions, allocates resources, and determines employee compensation across all its segments. This shift aims to provide investors with a clearer view of the company's operational performance and its capacity for distributions to unitholders.
Key Highlights
- 1Blackstone is shifting its primary performance metric from "Economic Income" to "Distributable Earnings" for assessing business segment performance.
- 2This change is effective for the three months ended December 31, 2018, with retrospective application to all prior periods presented.
- 3"Distributable Earnings" is presented as a non-GAAP measure that excludes the consolidation of Blackstone Funds.
- 4The company believes "Distributable Earnings" better reflects operational decision-making, resource allocation, and employee compensation practices.
- 5This recast of financial information aims to provide unitholders with a more relevant view of performance and distributable amounts.
- 6The information was posted on Blackstone's investor relations website (ir.blackstone.com) and is being disclosed under Regulation FD.