Big haul for Blackstone’s Schwarzman

The hits keep coming at Blackstone (BX). The private equity firm said in its annual report this week that CEO Stephen A. Schwarzman took home $350 million in cash distributions last year. Schwarzman’s big paycheck is lower than his 2006 take of $398 million, the company said in a 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Fortunately, the cash distribution - reflecting Schwarzman’s stake in the firm’s profits and its funds’ carried interest and incentive fees  - wasn’t all he got. The exec also received $729 million worth of Blackstone partnership units, as well as other compensation valued at $179,482. News of Schwarzman’s hefty take comes just days after Blackstone, whose shares have dropped 57% from their peak last summer after the firm’s IPO, posted a $170 million fourth-quarter loss.

On a happier note, Schwarzman agreed earlier this week to donate $100 million to the New York Public Library, which will put his name on the side of its landmark Fifth Avenue building. “We hope to incise the name of the building in stone in a subtle, discreet way on either side of the main entrance about three feet off the ground,” the president of the library’s board of trustees told The New York Times Tuesday. “It’s in keeping with the dignity of the building.”