Blackstone doubles second quarter earnings on surging asset sales

Blackstone Group Inc said on Thursday its second-quarter distributable earnings nearly doubled year-on-year, driven by a surge in asset sales across its real estate, private equity and credit businesses.
 

Blackstone's shares rose 4.5% on Thursday morning, pushing its market capitalization to a record high of $131 billion, overtaking Goldman Sachs Group Inc, another Wall Street heavyweight.
 

Shares of other publicly listed private equity firms also staged record rallies as they capitalized on frothy market valuations to cash out on assets for top dollar. Private equity firms that had previously been wary of a stock market debut, such as TPG and