lebron james' uber agent rich paul, and david blitzer.g of blackstone, in the magazine real estate issue, what's come to be known as blackstone's israelis model. the investment giant made a strategic turn to real estate and others are following. jason kelly and i spoke to reporter steven gendel. >> you go back about 11 years. and they have had real estate investments for a while. but it was small, maybe a quarter of the assets of the firm. private equity was a 75 billion dollars and maybe $20 billion in real estate. and then they get a deal to buy sam zell's equity office properties, a $39 billion deal that more than doubles the size of their portfolio. they get it in 2007. almost immediately after they get it, the signs are flashing red, but they are still able to get themselves out of the, a number of properties at the top, make a lot of money and have a lot of cash on hand, and then a business there and then pick up a ton, right after the financial crisis, and that launched this juggernaut, launched this business. $136 billion slightly

netlist's david blitzer, global head of tactical opportunities at blackstone and a comanaging partneritzer sports and entertainment, co-owner of the 76ers. >> each year grow so dramatically, no doubt heard we have some very colorful players that really seem to dominate social media, as well as on the court, so it is fun to watch that engagement, but it is just going strength to strength. and if you look at the global nature of the game, how that couples with the incredible performance and athleticism on , frankly, it is giving folks at home and around the world what they want. it does feel like the league, and the owners, have not just allow this to happen, but enabled this to happen. how and why? silver and the entire management team at the nba is incredible. they saw this, and they saw the saw thend they connection that could be made between the league and the anders with the fan base, given what was going on from a distribution standpoint in terms of how people are consuming media, and most -- more importantly, where the trend was going. i think they nailed it, and they continue to

agent and david blitzer.e magazine, what has come to be known as blackstone's real estate model, the investment giant made a strategic turn to real estate and others are following. jason kelly and i spoke -- >> you go back about 11 years. and they have had real estate investments, but it was small, maybe a quarter. . of the assets. private equity was a 75 billion dollars and maybe $20 billion in real estate. and then they get a deal to buy equity office properties, a $39 billion deal that more than doubled the size of their portfolio. almost immediately after they get it, the signs are flashing red, but they are still able to get themselves out of the, a number of properties at the top, make a lot of money and have a lot of cash on hand, and then pick up a ton right after the financial crisis, and that launched this business. $136 billion slightly larger than the private equity portfolio, and it has become a winner, so much that everybody else wants this model. jason: and as you say, that was a pivotal year.

carol: up next, one of the most prolific sports investors david blitzer. also an nba great. "bloomberg businessweek." ♪ carol: welcome back to "bloomberg businessweek." i am carol massar. during jason kelly mean for "bloomberg businessweek" every day on the radio up your you can also catch up on our daily show by listening to our podcast on bloomberg.com. 20thiggest names from the companynology all-star partner ofnaging sports entertainment, also the co-owner of the philadelphia 76ers. year grows so dramatically. we have colorful players that really seem to dominate social media. it is fun to watch that engagement. it's just going from strength to strength. having the athleticism of what is on the court -- and frankly is giving folks at home and .round the world what they want jason: it seems the league and owners have not just allow this to happen but enabled us to happen. >> absolutely. the entire management team is incredible and i think they saw this and they saw it early in the saw the connection that could be made tween the league and the player with the fan base given

there.zzing out we found a quiet corner to catch up with david blitzer. couple of different hats.r of the 76ers, among other teams. on the 76ers just because we're talking the nba. big job at blackstone. first of all, thank you for joining us. >> it's a pleasure. here.to be >> all right. technology, day, help us understand how it has changed the game from an owner's perspective. >> well, first again, thanks for having me on. it's incredible to be here. summit and the overall all-star weekend is always so think about if you the tech summit and i know you've seen a lot of different eople in terms of the convergence of what's happening, between what's happening with court, what'sn the happening with them off of the court, and their engagement with fan days has absolutely just completely xploded in the age of social media. and there has been a lot of interesting commentary even at of the sessions this morning about how much that's et ged and how quickly, cetera, but i'll just say from this spective in watching connection, i would say over the year, grows so dramatically. no doubt. col