Private equity chiefs get bumper payouts on back of Fed stimulus 2 Mar, 2021 10:17 PM 3 minutes to read Blackstone founder Stephen Schwarzman. Photo / Getty Images Financial Times By: Sujeet Indap and Mark Vandevelde Private equity executives who rank among the richest men on Wall Street received hundreds of millions of dollars in payouts even as the US economy faltered last year, helped by central bank stimulus that wiped out the investment losses they recorded early in the pandemic. Blackstone founder Stephen Schwarzman received at least US$615 million ($843.9m), most of it in dividends. That is one-fifth more than he earned the previous year, as strong investment returns and inflows of fee-paying capital boosted earnings at the world's biggest private equity firm.