Blackstone to Promote Entrepreneurship

On March 7, 2018, Techstars and the Blackstone (BX) Charitable Foundation announced that they are entering into a partnership to jointly support Blackstone LaunchPad, a program focused on entrepreneurship. Blackstone LaunchPad promotes the spirit of entrepreneurship in students and is currently accessible to more than 500,000 students. Alumni, staff, and students can use the program’s services.

Through the partnership, participants of Blackstone LaunchPad would be able to use the services provided by Techstars. These services include interactions with mentors, accessibility of start-up content, and attending certain events. The main problem in the entrepreneurial journey is fundraising. Techstars will guide student entrepreneurs in the fundraising process and provide services related to recruitment.

Blackstone has a dividend yield of 6.9% on an LTM (last-12-month) basis. Alternative asset managers Apollo Global Management (APO), Greenhill (GHL), and KKR & Co. (KKR) have dividend yields of 4.3%, 7.1%, and 3.1%, respectively, on an LTM basis.