Bruce Wasserstein and Steve Schwarzman Debate Economic Crisis
An article from The Huffington Post titled “Stephen Schwarzman and Bruce Wasserstein Spar at Fortune Breakfast” describes how Steve Schwarzman and Bruce Wasserstein delivered their personal insights over a breakfast conversation thrown by Forbes magazine. The two talked about Wall Street issues and how U.S. President-elect Barack Obama can lead the country out of its present financial crisis.
Steve Schwarzman is the Chairman and Co-founder of the private equity and financial advisory firm the Blackstone Group while Bruce Wasserstein is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lazard Group and its parent company Lazard Ltd., a global financial advisory and asset management company. While Steve Schwarzman is noted to be a Republican donor, Wasserstein is a well known Democratic donor. Given their contrasting political leanings, the debate of the two distinguished gentlemen drew a great deal of attention from the financial industry’s elite.
About Bruce Wasserstein
Bruce Wasserstein is an American investment banker, lawyer, and businessman who started his career as an attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. After which, he served as the Co-chairman of investment banking at The First Boston Corporation and then went on to form an investment banking firm, Wasserstein Perella & Co., where he served as its CEO from February 1988 to January 2001. Bruce Wasserstein later sold the firm to Dresdner Bank in 2001 and served as the Executive Chairman of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (from the merger of Dresdner’s UK unit Kleinwort Benson and Wasserstein Perella) for barely a year to join Lazard Fréres.
Bruce Wasserstein served as Head of Lazard and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Lazard Group from January 2002 to May 2005; and since May 2005, Wasserstein has served as Chairman and CEO of Lazard Group and Lazard Ltd. At present, Bruce Wasserstein serves as Chairman of Wasserstein & Co., LP, a private equity company with investments in different industries, mainly media, including the New York Magazine. Wasserstein has also authored several books and donated $25 million to Harvard Law School. Bruce Wasserstein’s net worth is estimated at about $200 billion.