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Hamilton “Tony” James, president and COO of The Blackstone Group, said he was not surprised that a recent dog abuse case spurred a national outcry against a private equity firm and its portfolio company. “Animal rights people are some of the most aggressive” of activist groups, James said on the sidelines of the PartnerConnect LP-GP Summit in New York, sponsored by peHUB and Thomson Reuters. James, who spoke during a keynote Thursday, said his prior firm, DLJ Merchant Banking, once owned Charles River Laboratories, which breeds animals for pharmaceutical testing. “We got bomb threats all the time,” James told peHUB. Social media recently has publicized bad acts committed by members of the PE industry. In August, Centerplate Inc CEO Desmond Hague was caught on a hotel video abusing a cowering dog. The video went viral and the ensuing backlash included calls for Hague to be fired, threatened boycotts of Centerplate, and death threats against the CEO and executives of Centerplate’s sponsor, Olympus Partners. Hague resigned on Sept. 2. SeaWorld Entertainment, a Blackstone portfolio company, also saw its stock plunge in August. “Blackfish,” a documentary released in 2013 that highlights SeaWorld’s treatment of killer whales, has spurred a backlash against the company that has affected the company’s earnings. When asked if Centerplate waited too long to oust Hague, James said he wasn’t that familiar with the situation. “What kind of person beats their dog?” he said. “I’m not that sympathetic either.” James didn’t comment on the Blackfish controversy. Instead, he recalled how SeaWorld penguins visited the Blackstone offices when the portfolio company went public in 2013. Publicity from the visit, which included cuddly photos of SeaWorld penguins running around the firm’s offices, softened Blackstone’s image, James said. “It made us look friendly…[Social media] can be very useful tool for getting stuff out as well.” James, during his keynote, said the world had changed in the last seven to eight years “when we all went public.” The PE industry used to be private and “didn’t get a lot of attention.” Blackstone executives are now “very mindful” that they are “public figures,” he said. “We get watched…Private birthday parties become causes célèbres. We try to be careful. We make mistakes.” By Luisa Beltran, peHUB This story first appeared on peHUB on Sept. 19, 2014: https://www.pehub.com/2014/09/blackstones-james-we-are-public-figures/

Jim Breyer, founder and CEO of Breyer Capital and a partner at Accel Partners, speaks at the LP GP Summit in New York on Sept. 18, 2014.

Dixon Doll, co-founder and general partner at DCM, speaks at the LP GP Summit in New York Sept 18, 2014.

Josh Lerner of Harvard Business School, delivers a keynote address entitled "The Best of Times or the Worst of Times? PE at a Crossroads" at the LP-GP Summit on Sept. 18, 2014. Lerner is the Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Investment Banking Unit Head at HBS.

Nyca Partners, a fintech-focused venture firm founded by former Visa President Hans Morris, debuts at Thomson Reuters' Venture Alpha East 2014 conference in New York. . Video date: March 26, 2014

Henry Kravis, co-chairman and co-CEO of KKR, speaks at Thomson Reuters' PartnerConnect 2012 conference in New York. . Video date: April 3, 2012

In a keynote address at Thomson Reuters' Buyouts East conference on April 4, 2013, Silver Lake Co-Founder Glenn Hutchins said he didn't expect to see the economic recovery pick up more steam, but that he was still bullish on the technology sector. . Laying out his macro-economic outlook for a sluggish growth in U.S. Gross Domestic Product of 2 percent for the next several years, Hutchins said the technology sector offers faster growth. . He pointed out that Apple Inc. launched the iPad during a weak economy, but the product still took off. “You have to take share of consumer dollars,” he said. . Overall, investors should focus on growing parts of the global economy by sector and “take control of them,” he said. . Hutchins, who declined to talk about his firm’s $24 billion bid to buy Dell Inc., said he remains optimistic, but he called on the business community to work to create more jobs. . “The unhappy situation is not 2 percent growth – the unhappy picture is unemployment,” he said. . Hutchins said he focuses on macroeconomic forecasts because, “you can make the best company selection but you can still get killed” if overall business conditions take a dive. . While some may be hoping for the economy to heat up, the current recovery ranks as the “worst…since World War II,” he said. . “This is the economic recovery,” Hutchins said. “This is what you’re going to get. The recovery is already middle aged. It’s time to do some of the things [you] postponed for the future.” . By Steve Gelsi, Buyouts magazine . This story first appeared in Buyouts Magazine. Steve Gelsi is a senior editor at Buyouts Magazine. Any opinions expressed here are entirely his own. Follow him on Twitter @SteveGelsi. Follow Buyouts tweets @Buyouts. . Video date: April 4, 2013

Sponsored Video. This panel, "Three outstanding PE deals and why they worked," features Howard Morgan, co-President of Castle Harlan; Ted Beneski, CEO and Managing Partner of Insight Equity Holdings LLC, and Stephen Thomas, a Principal at Bain Capital. Morgan discusses Castle Harlan's investment in United Malt Holdings, which produced a 4.8x return for Castle Harlan when it sold the company to GrainCorp for $655 million.

Margaux Avedisian, managing partner at BlockStream Ventures, speaks to Venture Capital Journal about bitcoin. . Video date: March 2014

Andreessen Horowitz has had a significant impact on the venture industry. But just a few short years ago it was little more than an idea. In July 2009 Marc Andreessen visited with the editors of Reuters Venture Capital Journal (a peHUB sister publication) to discuss his new venture fund. (Partner Ben Horowitz wasn't available because he was closing one of the fund's first deals.) . Andreessen spoke for about an hour, talking about everything from what A16Z would and wouldn't invest in to his favorite VCs. Enjoy! . Video date: July 2009