AGM Alts Weekly | 12.21.25: The $106T wealth transfer and the brilliance of Blackstone's holiday video
AGM Alts Weekly #134: Making private markets more public, every week.
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Good morning from Washington, D.C.
Awaiting the drop of Blackstone’s holiday video has become an annual ritual for the finance industry.
Some can’t wait to make fun of Blackstone’s memeable moments. Others are ready to cringe at their dancing and attempts at humor, including Blackstone themselves.
But for Blackstone, they might very well be trying to send a deeper message with the video.
Perhaps the nods to 80s classics like Jon Cusack’s “Say Anything,” Ghostbusters, Risky Business, and “Forever Young” (“Forever Blackstone”) were intentional beyond the entertainment value.
What does the video tell us about where Blackstone believes the future of private markets is headed?
Once again, the brilliance of Blackstone’s marketing strikes a chord.
Who might Blackstone be aiming to appeal to with the 80s references?
Next generation, phone home
The $106T wealth transfer, according to an article by Merrill Lynch, that’s expected to take place into 2048 will see Gen X (1965-1980), Millennials (1981-1996), and Gen Z (1997-2012) take the driver’s seat with this massive new pool of capital.
Which generations of Americans happen to like 80s music?
Well, what a coincidence. A 2021 YouGov survey finds that Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z all have the 80s music in their top three decades for the best music.
The demographics around music popularity seem to align well with the demographics of financial advisors, a cohort of investors that Blackstone is maniacally focused on reaching.
Data from a 2025 Advisor Demographics report from AdvizorPro finds that the average age of a US financial advisor is 46.7 years old, with a median age of 46.
When age demographics of advisors are broken down by channel (i.e., wirehouse, IBD, RIA), the average age of advisors falls squarely within the Gen X cohort.
Connecting the dots of the data, the Gen X cohort finds 80s music the most popular decade of music.
Perhaps that’s why Blackstone’s Global Head of Blackstone Credit and Insurance (BXCI) Gilles Dellaert says “1980s, here we come” when peering out his office window, only to find Blackstone President and COO Jon Gray in the memorable Jon Cusack pose from 1980s movie “Say Anything.”
And what a business Blackstone has built working with the wealth channel.
Of the firm’s $1.2T in AUM, $288B comes from the wealth channel.
Financial advisors and intermediaries have been responsible for the lion’s share of Blackstone’s wealth channel AUM. They’ve made a concerted effort to be a trusted partner to the different segments of the wealth channel.
But this year’s holiday video insinuates that it’s not just financial advisors that Blackstone has in their sights.
The future is calling, as Blackstone says. And they are focused on reaching the future allocator to private markets today.
A retail “Revolut”-ion
This past week, Bloomberg reported that Blackstone has been holding exploratory talks with Revolut, Europe’s largest direct-to-consumer digital bank, about providing Revolut’s private banking clients with access to Blackstone funds (presumably evergreen structures).
If Blackstone and Revolut do end up striking a partnership, a portion of Revolut’s 65 million customers and 12 million UK users will be able to invest into Blackstone’s funds.
As I wrote in the 9.1.24 AGM Alts Weekly and the 4.13.25 AGM Alts Weekly, there’s a lot to play for. Trillions of dollars are at stake, with going direct to individual investors (whether through financial advisors or through brokerage firms) a feature of what is next in the evolution of how asset managers will serve the wealth channel.
The data shows that Blackstone is on trend.
Alts are actually going mainstream, as I wrote in the 7.27.25 AGM Alts Weekly, where I dove into survey data from HSBC and Bank of America to unpack how younger investors are constructing their investment portfolios.
A survey from HSBC found that Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z all increased their allocations to private markets in 2025.
Younger investors, which overlaps with the Revolut client demographic, where the average user’s age is 34 years old, have far more alternatives in their portfolios than their older counterparts.
A Bank of America survey finds that 17% of investors ages 21-43 hold alternatives in their portfolios compared to 5% of investors ages 44+. That delta could very well increase going forward. 93% of investors ages 21-43 said they expect to allocate more to alts in the coming years compared to only 28% of investors ages 44+.
Further, 72% of Millennial and Gen Z investors surveyed for Bank of America Private Bank’s “2024 Study of Wealthy Americans” believe “it’s no longer possible to achieve above-average returns solely on traditional stocks and bonds.”
Younger investors’ interest in real estate and private equity would seem to align well with Blackstone’s large footprint in both real estate ($320B AUM) and private equity ($396B AUM).
Blackstone’s integrated and nuanced marketing strategy enables the firm to reach the different demographics in the wealth channel (and institutional investors, too).
Human interest
The brilliance of Blackstone’s marketing resides in the firm’s ability to span the spectrum of bringing to life their institutional-quality investing capabilities while embracing the irreverence of a holiday video where senior leaders are willing to not take themselves too seriously and dress up in 80s costumes.
Blackstone’s Global Head of Private Wealth Joan Solotar humanizes herself by rocking a headband in a classic 80s workout in the video.
She can also authoritatively exhibit her and the team’s decades of experience in private markets, as one can see on Blackstone’s website.
This juxtaposition of the two spectrums of Blackstone’s marketing is supplemented by an integrated marketing strategy that constantly aims to humanize people at the firm.
Everything from “the global leader in the financial fitness influencer space” Jon Gray running around the world showcasing his stories and perspectives on private markets on LinkedIn to the firm’s “Between Two Meetings” short-form videos has a purpose.
With brand equity one of the most powerful moats that asset managers can possess, the firm has done a masterful job of leveraging multiple mediums and messages to connect with consumers and engender trust in the Blackstone brand as both the firm and the industry are in the midst of the mainstreaming of private markets.
Part of Blackstone’s brilliance is the firm’s willingness to embrace the meme to meet certain cohorts of current and future customers where they are. They are able to embrace irreverence while never forgetting the true institutional nature of what they do as investors and stewards of $1.2T in individual and institutional capital, as exhibited by the 36 minute video featured on the front page of their website which dives into the history of the 40 years of Blackstone.
It will be interesting to see what next year’s Blackstone holiday video might tell us about the present and future of private markets.
Happy holidays everyone.
AGM Index
AGM has created an Index to track the leading publicly traded alternative asset managers.
Some of the industry’s largest alternative asset managers are publicly traded — and their net inflows can serve as a window into how private markets are being perceived by investors and allocators who are allocating capital into alternative investments.
Note: AUM figures are based on fee-paying AUM where applicable.
Who is hiring?
In order for alts to continue to go mainstream, we need the best talent to go into the space. Here are some openings at private markets firms. If you’d like to connect with any of these teams, let me know, and I’m happy to facilitate an introduction if appropriate. If you’re a company or fund in private markets, feel free to reach out to share a job description you’d like to be listed here to highlight for the Alt Goes Mainstream community.
🔍 Blackstone (Alternative asset manager) - Blackstone Private Wealth - Product Specialist, Vice President (Real Assets). Click here to learn more.
🔍 KKR (Alternative asset manager) - Head of AI Product Management. Click here to learn more.
🔍 Apollo Global Management (Alternative asset manager) - Market Intelligence Director. Click here to learn more.
🔍 Ares (Alternative asset manager) - Vice President, Product Management & Client Services, Wealth Management Solutions, APAC. Click here to learn more.
🔍 EQT Group (Alternative asset manager) - Head of Social Media. Click here to learn more.
🔍 Blue Owl (Alternative asset manager) - Market Leader, Private Wealth, Senior Associate. Click here to learn more.
🔍 Franklin Templeton (Asset manager) - Portfolio Manager, Private Markets. Click here to learn more.
🔍 iCapital (Private markets infrastructure investment platform) - Private Markets, Due Diligence Manager - Senior Vice President. Click here to learn more.
🔍 Goldman Sachs Alternatives (Alternative asset manager) - Asset & Wealth Management, Wealth Product Design, Designer, Vice President - New York. Click here to learn more.
🔍 Partners Group (Alternative asset manager) - Investment Leader, Private Equity, Services vertical. Click here to learn more.
🔍 Ultimus Fund Solutions (Fund administrator) - SVP, Business Development. Click here to learn more.
🔍 Krilogy (Wealth manager) - Senior Wealth Advisor. Click here to learn more.
🔍 Dynasty Financial Partners (Wealth management platform) - Senior Product Manager - Wealth Technology. Click here to learn more.
🔍 MSCI (Data services) - Product Marketing Specialist - Private Asset GPs. Click here to learn more.
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Special thanks to Izzy Morin, Ryan McCormack, Nick Owens, Michael Rutter for their contributions to the AGM Index section of the newsletter.