Business Context and Reporting Period
Company: The Blackstone Group L.P.
Filing Type: Form 8-K (Current Report)
Date of Report: January 25, 2019
Subject: Regulation FD Disclosure regarding a change in the presentation of supplemental non-GAAP financial information.
Key Financial Metrics
This filing does not report specific revenue, profit, cash flow, margin, debt, or liquidity figures. The document serves as a notice of a methodological change in financial reporting rather than a disclosure of period-specific financial results.
Material Changes
- Change in Performance Measure: Blackstone has determined that Distributable Earnings, rather than Economic Income, is the primary measure senior management uses to assess business segment performance.
- Effective Date: The change is effective for the three months ended December 31, 2018.
- Retrospective Application: All prior periods presented in historical financial information have been recast to reflect this new measure.
- Rationale: Distributable Earnings is intended to show net realized earnings without the effects of consolidating Blackstone Funds. Management believes this better reflects operating decisions, resource allocation, and employee compensation determination compared to Economic Income or Economic Net Income.
Guidance, Outlook, and Risks
Management Commentary: The filing states that Distributable Earnings is more useful to unitholders as a supplement to U.S. GAAP results because it aligns with how the company makes internal operating decisions.
Disclosure Status: The information is furnished under Item 7.01 (Regulation FD Disclosure) and is not deemed "filed" for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act, nor is it subject to the liabilities of that Section.
Availability: Recast historical financial information and updated supplemental non-GAAP data are posted on the company's investor relations website (ir.blackstone.com).
Investor Verification Checklist
- Verify the recast historical financial data on ir.blackstone.com to compare Distributable Earnings against previously reported Economic Income.
- Review the specific reconciliation between U.S. GAAP net income and the new Distributable Earnings metric.
- Confirm how the removal of Blackstone Funds consolidation impacts the reported net realized earnings.
- Check subsequent filings to ensure the new metric is consistently applied in future quarterly and annual reports.