Blackstone's Schwarzman Plans to Transfer $48 Billion Fortune to AI and Education Foundation
Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman plans to transfer $48 billion to his foundation, focused on AI and education, potentially creating a top-five global philanthropy.
Blackstone's Schwarzman Plans to Transfer $48 Billion Fortune to AI and Education Foundation Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman plans to transfer $48 billion to his foundation, focused on AI and education, potentially creating a top-five global philanthropy. Aaron Rafferty March 28, 2026 Key Takeaways: Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman plans to transfer the substantial majority of his $47.8 billion fortune to the Stephen A. Schwarzman Foundation upon his death, focused on AI, education, culture, and medical innovation. The foundation would rival the Gates Foundation ($83.3 billion) and Wellcome Trust ($47 billion) in scale, potentially becoming a top-five global philanthropy. Despite signing the Giving Pledge in 2020 and citing an urgent need for AI preparedness, Schwarzman has not announced a major new AI commitment since 2019. Stephen Schwarzman, the 78-year-old co-founder and CEO of Blackstone, plans to turn a private equity fortune into one of the world's largest philanthropic foundations. Documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal show the Stephen A. Schwarzman Foundation has hired an executive director to oversee what the filing describes as anticipated philanthropic growth. The numbers put this in rare company. Schwarzman's net worth is approximately $47.8 billion. If he transfers the substantial majority, as planned, the foundation would rank alongside the Gates Foundation ($83.3 billion) and the Wellcome Trust ($47 billion) as one of the largest in the world. The foundation is currently valued at $65 million. The gap between current endowment and projected scale is roughly 700x. The focus areas are AI, education, culture, and medical innovation. Schwarzman gave $350 million to MIT in 2018 to launch the Schwarzman College of Computing, the largest