Blackstone IPO: Worst Biz Deal of the Year

Time is out with a list of the year’s 10 worst business deals, and has selected The Blackstone Group’s IPO for its most dubious honors.

Bill Saporito writes: A classic case of selling at the top to the suckers, which would be us — oh, and China too, which invested $3 billion in Blackstone at the height of the leveraged-buyout frenzy.  

It also had some negative effects that Saporito didn’t mention, like increasing the regulatory/PR glare on private equity, reducing the ownership prospects for younger Blackstone employees and — worst of all — encouraging KKR to play a childish game of copycat.

Private equity-related deals actually dominate the 10 Worst list, including:

#3. DaimlerChrysler Pays to Unload Chrysler
#4. Microsoft Overpays for Facebook
#5. Cerberus Abandons United Rentals
#6. KKR and Goldman Sachs Break Up with Harman
#7. J.C. Flowers Reneges on Sallie Mae
#10. Virgin Money Bids for Northern Rock

Of course, it’s Daimler that gets dinged for #3, not Cerberus. Kind of like the reverse of how Sam Zell and Blackstone are treated Time’s description of Equity Office, which is #2 of the year’s 10 best business deals. Also on that list are:

#3. Google Buys DoubleClick for $3.1 Billion
#9. Blackstone Buys Hilton Hotels for $26 Billion
#10. KKR Wrangles Biggest LBO Ever (note: should that be wer