• Blackstone's outlandish holiday videos have become must-see TV for Wall Street and beyond.
• Love them or hate them, they are smart marketing, and other companies are taking notice.
• Business Insider went behind the scenes to see how they're made and who's in charge.

On a Thursday in December, a small crowd stood outside the office of Blackstone's heir apparent, Jon Gray. A woman was holding a martini glass and asked the nearby film crew how she should toss its contents at her colleague.

Laurie Carlson, Gray's executive assistant, wanted to know how high she should throw the liquid and worried aloud about the office equipment, including a printer.

A member of the crew told Carlson to aim for the face — for comedic effect. A minute later, Joe Lohrer, the head of US retail sales for Blackstone Private Wealth Solutions, was dripping wet, and the head of Blackstone's video team, Jay Gillespie, called for another take.

"This is the first stunt we've ever done in a holiday video," Gillespie, who's spent his career in the film industry as a director, producer, editor, and cinematographer, told a reporter on set.

Since 2018, Blackstone has been releasing increasingly zany videos in time for the holiday season. Think of them as the house with the over-the-top Christmas lights: Some people love it, some hate it, but everyone is talking about it. It's become must-see-TV for Wall Street, and this year's video was among the zaniest. It included a series of mock reality-TV shows and ended with a country-western song-and-dance routine about leveraged loans and data centers.

Blackstone's viral holiday video is the work of Gillespie's team, which has been quietly helping to transform the public face of the private-equity giant since he joined the firm full time in 2019. The video operation now includes about 20 full-time staffers and produces an enormous amount of content, including 2,200 videos this year alone. It is the brainchild of Christine Anderson, Blackstone's global head of corporate affairs, who also oversees the team as the head of marketing.

While the holiday video is the most outlandish, much of what Gillespie and his team produce for Blackstone differs from other financial firms. Rather than focusing on how smart its employees are, the videos seek to humanize them, including by dressing them up in funny outfits and letting them sing and dance. Watching its videos, one can learn that Joe Zidle, the chief investment strategist for the private wealth group, is a Deadhead, and Kathleen McCarthy, the cohead of real estate, rocked out to indie band The Beths at the Coachella music festival in April.

It's arguably smart marketing in an era when being powerful and secretive can backfire, leading to questions and even conspiracy theories, especially for a firm as large as Blackstone, which manages over $1 trillion, making it the largest alternative asset manager in the world. On the "Today" show recently, Dan Roth, LinkedIn's editor in chief, said companies around the world are taking notice — even if some of the videos can attract haters on social media.

"They are watching to see what he's doing, and they're copying it," Roth said of a recent Blackstone video in which Gray discusses the company's earnings as colorful emojis (a handshake, a bicep, a gold medal) pop up on the screen. "We are seeing companies in Australia, companies in Europe, doing exactly the same thing," Roth said. "It's wild."

Origin story

Blackstone's holiday video tradition started in 2018 as a replacement for the New York holiday party, which was canceled because the investment firm, with more than 2,500 employees at the time, had grown too large.

Gray, together with Anderson, decided to mark the holidays instead with a video that parodied their workplace in the style of NBC's sitcom "The Office." Gray, who had just been tapped as president and COO, would play the role of the loveable but incompetent boss Michael Scott, played in the show by Steve Carell.

The video was initially intended for clients and employees, not the general public. Even as the videos have gained a wider audience, however, the company has continued in the tradition of using them to poke fun at the firm's inner-office dynamics.

One of the biggest jokes over the years was the firm's casting of Gray as the guy who drives his colleagues crazy with his special meetings and big ideas, several people who work with him said. Even the way he yells from his office for Carlson, his assistant, to jump on his latest pet project has a ring of truth to it, colleagues told BI.

"People tell me that I have an excess of enthusiasm, and many people I work with roll their eyes at it," Gray acknowledged to BI.

Other inside jokes included CEO and cofounder Steve Schwarzman's relentless hawking of his book, "What It Takes," and the head of tactical operations David Blitzer's obsession with teams he owns, including the NHL's New Jersey Devils. In 2019, the video featured Bennett Goodman, the cofounder of GSO, wearing a Hawaiian shirt in the office while sipping on a tropical cocktail — counting down the days till his retirement.

Over the years, the audience for the video has grown. In 2023, it attracted 8 million views across platforms, up from just 60,000 views in 2018, a spokesman told BI. The production has also grown more ambitious, with 200 of the firm's 4,900 employees starring in it this year compared with 20 the first year.

The video, which takes months to produce, is also popular inside Blackstone — so much so that it has raised Gillespie's profile within the halls of 345 Park Avenue. Indeed, one sign of his newfound status was his appearance in this year's video — as a reality TV show producer.

"People come up to me throughout the year, and they're like, 'My daughter is helping me rehearse so I might get a line next year,'" Gillespie told Business Insider. "People are really into lobbying to be in it."

Blackstone TV

Gillespie, 38, has been working on and off with Blackstone since 2012 but was only hired full-time after working on the 2018 holiday video. After graduating from Bard, a small liberal arts college overlooking the Hudson River, in 2008, he went straight to work in reality television, documentaries, and some corporate work. At Blackstone, he oversees both full-time production employees and outside contractors.

His team films, edits, and produces from Blackstone's headquarters at 345 Park Avenue. The company releases the content on its website and via email lists, as well as social media sites like LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and X.

Some of what they produce is traditional: an executive sitting in an office opining on the state of the economy or a growing business opportunity. Gillespie appears to have a lot of freedom, however, to get creative.

More recently, he has taken to interviewing the firm's executives using his iPhone in a series of walk-and-talk interviews the firm has dubbed "Between Two Meetings." In one recent episode, Gillespie catches the firm's head of private equity, Joe Baratta, in the hallway and asks about the company's portfolio of owned and operated companies.

As Baratta starts to answer, a black bar with the word "REDACTED" appears over his mouth, and a closed caption appears on the bottom: "NOT APPROVED BY BLACKSTONE LEGAL AND COMPLIANCE." The audio of Baratta speaking is replaced with some loungey bossa nova as he walks through the halls to the elevator.

The audience (hopefully) walks away from that video chuckling at corporate America, but also with a sense of what it is like to work at Blackstone. Before the censors cut him off, Baratta was explaining that he was coming out of the firm's "weekly private-equity Monday morning meeting," which includes the entire team from around the globe. Schwarzman had been at the meeting, Baratta says, telling them about his recent trip to Asia.

In another series, Gillespie's video team interviews a series of managing directors. It's shot with upbeat music and spiffy editing like something you might see on the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives." The series seems geared toward highlighting Blackstone as a place to work, with questions like," What qualities do you look for in junior employees?," and "How do you overcome a career setback?"

Gray acknowledged that the videos can help with recruiting.

"I was interviewing someone yesterday who said they wanted to work here because of the holiday video," Gray told BI while filming a scene for the holiday video. "'You guys know how to make fun of yourself.'"

Showing that you can laugh at yourself is an important "humanizing" touch, Gray said, adding, "It shows you're a human-scale place."

"Jon Gray's baby"

Blackstone declined to comment on the cost of its holiday video or its internal video team, but Anderson said the company is saving money with its approach instead of relying on outside contractors.

"We started realizing that by having an in-house team, you could produce this stuff so much more efficiently and cheaply, and then you could just use this stuff for more moments," she said.

A BI reporter watched the filming of a few scenes adding up to 45 seconds in the final video. It took more than an hour to film these scenes, with a coterie of video and marketing professionals on set.

A video professional who has worked with both Blackstone and other financial institutions confirmed much of what Blackstone's executives said about their video-production process.

This person, who asked to remain anonymous to protect career opportunities, said Blackstone differs from other financial firms in its decision to forgo a costly production studio in favor of a team that shoots from wherever they can within the office. The end product takes viewers inside the firm's hallways and executives' offices, giving the videos a documentary feel.

The video professional said too many financial firms are "trying to make one room with four walls look interesting." They also said few financial firms have realized the benefits of investing in full-time video teams.

This person referred to Blackstone's holiday video as "Jon Gray's baby" and said Gray appears to have a great working relationship with Gillespie.

"They met and had a meeting of minds and just got each other," said this person, adding, "They brainstorm very well."

Gillespie credited Gray and Anderson with having the vision to invest in video.

"It feels like if you're not fluent in video these days, you're missing something," he said. "I think Jon and Christine caught that really early."

Gray is usually the first person to come up with the idea for the holiday video, Gillespie said. Sometime in the early summer, Gray will reach out to Gillespie and Anderson with some themes. Then, Gillespie, Gray, and Anderson work together on the script before shooting starts later in the fall.

It's a far cry from the firm's first holiday party in 1985, which included just nine people, Schwarzman told BI. When asked about the new approach, the firm's billionaire founder took a philosophical view.

"This is like your home and this is where you spend more time than you do at your home," he said earlier this month while decked out in a 10-gallon hat between video shoots. "So you have to have a range of experiences from intense work stuff to more casual stuff to the theater of the absurd. So here we are, the theater."

• Blackstone has released a comedic holiday video for the last seven years.
• Last year's Taylor Swift-theme video attracted eight million viewers.
• Business Insider has watched and ranked them all so you don't have to.

Blackstone released its first satirical holiday video in 2018 as a way to liven up employees' spirits in lieu of the company-wide holiday party, a tradition that was canceled because the firm had grown too large.

Now, it's a viral sensation. Eight million people have viewed last year's video featuring Blackstone executives doing their best to match the success of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour with a pop song about alternative investments. It made headlines, with the Daily Mail questioning whether it was "the most cringeworthy corporate video ever."

This year, the company doubled down on the singing (and introduced line-dancing) in its most ambitious (and outlandish) holiday video yet. It also featured 200 employees, up from just 20 in 2018, a testiment to the video's popularity within the firm.

Jay Gillespie, Blackstone's head of video, joked that his role in producing the video has made him a hot commodity at 345 Park Avenue.

"People come up to me throughout the year, and they're like, 'My daughter is helping me rehearse so I might get a line next year,'" Gillespie told Business Insider. "People are really into lobbying to be in it."

If you don't get it, don't worry. We decided to help readers save time by watching and reviewing all of the firm's videos going back to 2018.

No. 7: 2020

This video came out in December 2020, during the depths of the pandemic. It stuck to the theme it launched in 2018 of depicting Blackstone as a version of the NBC sitcom "The Office," but executives wore face masks and pandemic jokes featured prominently. In an early scene one Blackstone executive has a hard time recognizing a colleague with out-of-control long hair. (Remember when all the barber shops were closed?)

While it was a bleak time, the video ends on an upbeat note, with Blackstone employees cutting loose to "I'm Walking on Sunshine," kicking off the tradition of holiday video songs, which have featured prominently since. Still, it's a bit stuck in the pandemic era, hence its place at No. 7.

No. 6: 2022

The conceit of this holiday season is fake news station "BX TV News" prompting Jon Gray to search for Blackstone's secret sauce. (It was a roundabout way for the firm to tout its plan to hit $1 trillion assets under management, which it has since achieved.)

Schwarzman returns to a role he often plays in these videos as the sincere elder statesman to explain that the firm's true secret sauce is its employees. But then, he notes that there is a secret hidden in the basement, setting two executives on an Indiana-Jones-referencing journey to find the scroll with the firm's secret. This weird twist is the highlight of the video.

The video successfully makes a number of self-deprecating jokes about Blackstone's love of acronyms (BCRED, anyone?) and Wall Street's notorious work hours. By 2022, however, the company has been going with "The Office" theme for four years, hence its ranking.

No. 5: 2021

The budget for the holiday video clearly increased this year, with a storyline about the birth of BX TV, the firm's weekly video call that Gray is incredibly enthusiastic about (and employees, less so). There are animals, special effects, and a Reese Witherspoon cameo.

The key joke is a fake award ceremony where Gray receives "'Best Weekly Internal Zoom Call at an Alternative Asset Management firm." The hope is that it will convince the firm's president and chief operating officer that it's time to move on with John Finley, chief legal officer, saying, "I make one call to the FCC and they'll cancel this clown car."

Employees chant "end it," and celebrate as they think Gray has decided to cancel the show after winning the award. But instead, it's clear that 2022's BX TV season is already being planned, and the internal video call is still a weekly requirement at the firm.

No. 4: 2018

Scranton, Pennsylvania, is a long way from Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, and Dunder Mifflin would be among its smallest portfolio companies, yet Blackstone successfully riffed off the NBC sitcom "The Office" for its first annual holiday video. The video begins with the theme music from the television show, and like "The Office," there is hand-held camera work and plenty of "candid" interviews with executives. There's also a Michael Scott look-alike. As with all the holiday videos that follow, this one starts with Jon Gray calling his executive assistant, Laurie Carlson.

This video started it all and set the tone for Blackstone's trademark style of mixing the firm's reality with jokes. The premise of the video is that Blackstone canceled its holiday party and replaced it with a video, which actually happened. And Jon Gray really does, sometimes, act a bit like Michael Scott in his enthusiasm for wild ideas, according to people who know him. There are fewer visual gags and no Hollywood cameos, but it's a classic.

No. 3: 2023

The 2023's holiday video marked the first time Blackstone moved away from being a parallel version of "The Office" (only the title card remains). Instead, it's an homage to Taylor Swift and the Eras tour, with Blackstone trying to replicate her success with its own song about alternative investments.

This is video that broke into the wider world, spawning more than a few mocking tabloid headlines. But for a video series that's main goal is to help the firm laugh at itself, that's a measure of success. Add that this immortal line: "Just this once, I do hope people confuse us with BlackRock." Also, you get to see Steve Schwarzman dancing while wearing some glittery fringe top.

No. 2: 2019

The 2019 holiday video revolves around Blackstone' absurd search for a company mascot, which turns out to be Mr. Stone, a mascot that looks like a cross of Hulk and Jon Gray. The international offices of Blackstone get cameos in this one, as does a plug for Steve Schwarzman's book, What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence"

Gray told BI that this was his favorite in the series because of the mascot. The firm not only hired a company to build the mascot suit, but also made dozens of bobbleheads which still show up in holiday videos, and on some people's desks.

We agree that that the mascot joke works, hence its ranking.

This video also ends with one of the best Steve Schwarzman gags of the series, when it's revealed that Schwarzman has been the mysterious person inside Mr. Stone the whole time.

No. 1: 2024

After last year's reception, leaned in to the cringe with a metaverse-like exploration of Blackstone executives as reality television stars that ends in a country song-and-dance routine.

It features appearances from famous friends. Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, which was originally created within Blackstone before spinning out in the 1990s, gets in a joke about how the two firms get confused for each other.

An extended "Real Housewives" bit includes some shade from Jenna Lyons, "Real Housewives of New York" star, fashion designer and executive creative director at Fundamental Co, a branding agency spun out of Blackstone last year.

The highlight, however, was billionaire founder and CEO Steve Schwarzman playing Kendall Jenner attempting to cut a cucumber, which has to be one of the most mind-bending images ever put on screen. (We are still struggling to fully process it.)

Gray told BI that the turn to country was inspired by Beyonce's own embrace of the genre this year on "Cowboy Carter", which came in the wake of her 2016 snub by the Country Music Awards. And just like Beyonce, some of the firm's best work comes when they don't let the critics stop them.

• Blackstone's holiday video series is back, and this time the firm is going country.
• The video combines another original song with a slew of reality-television parodies.
• BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and fashion designer and reality-TV star Jenna Lyons make cameos.

Blackstone on Thursday launched its most ambitious holiday video yet on Thursday, featuring 200 employees, two cameos, and a country music song-and-line-dance routine.

The video series, which has become must-see TV for Wall Street, is in its seventh year. Last year's version attracted widespread attention, resulting in 8 million views across various platforms, the company said. The videos seek to poke fun at the people behind Blackstone, which manages $1 trillion in assets, while also touting its investment prowess.

This year's video ditched its usual framing around NBC's hit sitcom "The Office" in favor of reality-TV parodies and included a brief appearance by the "Real Housewives of New York" star and fashion designer Jenna Lyons. Some of Blackstone's portfolio companies, including Supergoop and Jersey Mike's, also got airtime.

It kicks off with a recap of last year's video, which depicted Jon Gray, Blackstone's president and chief operating officer, compelling the firm's executives to go on tour like Taylor Swift. In a "Behind the Music"-type parody, the executives lament the poor reception they received for their "cringeworthy" song titled "The Alternatives Era."

"People just stopped talking to me," Jon Korngold, the global cohead of technology investing and head of Blackstone growth, said. "CEOs, LPs, even my mom."

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink makes an appearance to turn his nose up at the company.

"Can you believe people confuse us with them," Fink says.

The story takes a turn when Christine Anderson, the head of corporate affairs at Blackstone and one of the masterminds of the firm's holiday video tradition, decides that the next logical step is reality TV.

The video, a metatextual reference to its own popularity, then hits overdrive with a series of reality television spoofs, from the "Real Housewives" to "The Bachelor."

"I'm private equity's biggest asset," Joe Baratta, the head of private equity, says in a braggadocious manner while being introduced in the faux series, "The Real Executives of Park Avenue."

Even the firm's international offices get in on the act with the London office starring in "Love Island Blackstone" and the Tokyo team competing in the infamous "Human Tetris" game-show stunt.

Back at 345 Park Avenue, Gray's executive assistant, Laurie Carlson, throws a martini into the face of Joe Lohrer, the head of US retail sales for Blackstone's private wealth group.

"Sorry, Joe, they wanted me to do something dramatic," Carlson says.

The head of Blackstone's video team, Jay Gillespie, makes an appearance as a reality-television producer and calls for another martini to try the shot again.

Perhaps the funniest bit is Schwarzman's appearance in a parody of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," in which he is filmed awkwardly cutting a cucumber à la Kendall Jenner.

Back in the conference room, Gray tells the firm that they're going down the wrong path. A running gag in the series is that no one wants to go along with Gray's hare-brained ideas and it seems like he's finally come to his senses. Instead, he proposes another zany idea.

"Blackstone needs to go country," Gray says.

The video is capped off by the firm's second original song as executives sing and dance around the office, in Midtown traffic, and on the back of a mechanical bull.

The song's chorus, lip-synced by Schwarzman in the video, is "You can build. You can build with Blackstone," a reference to the firm's first television ad, which was released earlier this year.

• Blackstone opened an office in Miami during the pandemic, mostly as a hub for its tech workers.
• The firm is now focusing on building its Miami finance bench with local talent and 'homegrown teams.'
• A Miami-based Blackstone employee told BI what it's like to work for the PE giant in South Florida.

When Julio Garcia was a business student at the University of Miami in 2017, Blackstone was not on his radar of prospective employers.

It wasn't for a lack of interest, Garcia says — rather, a lack of opportunity.

A born-and-raised Miami native, Garcia was certain that he wanted to start and build his career in his hometown. At that point, Miami had not yet become the hub for financial titans that it is today, with companies like Blackstone, Citadel, and Point72 having opened offices or moved headquarters there.

Garcia's bet on Miami would eventually pay off in a big way. Blackstone, which manages over $1 trillion in assets, making it the largest alternative asset manager in the world, opened an office in Miami in 2021. At first, it was primarily a hub for tech employees who support the firm's primary businesses, like private equity and real estate — a group known internally as "finance." More recently, however, Blackstone has made a push to add more finance employees to its Miami location, like Garcia, who does accounting for the portfolio-management team.

Blackstone's Miami office is now home to about 70 finance professionals, including 15 from Garcia's team. And he now represents the type of talent Blackstone says it's hoping to attract for its Magic City office: local rather than transplanted.

"We're excited to keep building our finance function in Miami and to continue meeting the great, local talent here," said Chris Striano, COO of Global Finance at Blackstone. "Now more than ever, our focus is on cultivating homegrown teams, offering them opportunities for long-term development at the firm."

In an interview with Business Insider, Garcia talked about his journey to Blackstone, the firm's efforts to bolster its hiring of local talent, and his experience as a young professional building a finance career in South Florida. He also walked us through a normal day living and working for Blackstone in Miami.

Blackstone's bet on Miami

Blackstone's Miami office is just north of the city's downtown, about a 10-minute drive from the Brickell financial district. The modern glass building — five floors of which belong to Blackstone — is just a few blocks east of the Biscayne Bay and bridges to Miami Beach. It houses Miami's Brightline train station and about 260 Blackstone employees across nine business units, including more than 100 in tech.

In building Blackstone's Miami finance bench, Garcia said the approach is not so much about transplanting employees but rather finding local talent committed to Miami.

"It wasn't just, 'Hey, let's just bring people that we already know just because they want to be in Miami,'" said Garcia. "There is also an aspect of we hope that you want to be here. We want you to be in Miami and be part of Blackstone here in Miami."

This has empowered Garcia and other colleagues to tap into their Miami-based professional network when it comes time to recruit.

"We feel like there's a strong backing from the top down," Garcia said, adding: "Top leadership has come and been able to talk to us and say, 'We believe in this and it's going to be one of our biggest achievements for the firm.'"

Miami is more than just great weather and scenic views, Garcia said. It also has a lot of hardworking and high-achieving people.

You can be in Miami and be "just as productive and just as connected," he said.

Building a finance career outside New York

Garcia was born and raised in Miami, a "true Miami native through and through," as he describes himself. His parents immigrated to the US from Cuba, and he was a first-generation college student at the University of Miami. He always saw himself living in Miami long-term, even as many of his UM friends in the industry flocked to other cities.

"Having strong roots, having family nearby for me was really important," said Garcia

Garcia sits on the global fund finance team within Blackstone's multi-asset investing division, also known as BXMA, which invests in both public and private market assets. The division currently has about $83 billion in investor capital.

With a master's in accounting, his first job was at KPMG's Miami office, where he focused on audits for asset management clients. Interested in the buy side, he then worked at Miami-based private equity firm HIG Capital.

One of Garcia's mentors from KPMG, Tyler Burke, was the first finance employee Blackstone hired in Miami. Garcia was soon the second, joining in August 2021.

Think of his role as a fund accounting expert.

"As we get information from our operations and they're doing the trades themselves, we're making sure the accounting, the books, and everything actually is what it's supposed to represent from the business side and ultimately going back to investors and all that."

He works daily with deal and operations teams across the company.

"We're in conversations with New York and a lot of the deal people up there as well," Garcia said. "It's all about how we make the real-life world make sense and transaction-wise look right in our books and records and make sure it's all flowing seamlessly in our processes."

Garcia said he's proud of how the city has changed and the career opportunities it now provides to people who want to call it home.

"We've seen so much of an influx of people and companies," said Garcia. "It gave me that satisfaction of knowing, hey, I get to be proud of my city and being here, and still work for such an amazing institution like Blackstone."

A day in Garcia's life

Early morning routine

Garcia says he starts out early — 5:00 a.m. — to walk his dog and write in a gratitude journal, which helps to put him "in the right mindset."

He also goes to the gym to work out. "I usually do my gym routine in the morning. It makes it easier to just get it out of the way, and once I come home from work, I can relax a bit more," he said.

Arrive and settle in at the office

Garcia goes to the office every day, usually arriving between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. He drives from his apartment near Brickell, about 10 minutes. Blackstone has a valet service at the office, so he is able to drop off his car without worrying about parking.

He likes to start out with an iced coffee. "Usually Miami is pretty hot, so I feel like I need some cooling down," he said.

On Tuesday mornings, the office usually offers pastries or bites from local restaurants or bakeries, he said. Croquetas, deep-fried ham poppers, and pastelitos, puff pastries filled with fruit or cheese, are common fare.

"It connects us more to the Latin culture and the things that I grew up being around every day," said Garcia. "Every single week it's a space for people to just go hang out for a few minutes before we get started."

Getting down to work

After reading his emails, Garcia usually starts each work day with a catch-up team meeting. It's about 10 to 15 minutes for the team to go over that day's "key deliverables," he said.

After that, he said, "there might be a couple of meetings or things that come up with the business — trade activity, deal flow — that might be happening on our funds."

"I would say the biggest thing, at least on a daily basis, that I'll do is review what we call our flash reconciliations, or the snapshot of our portfolio," said Garcia.

It's basically a report of overall fund and individual investment performance. They're prepared by offshore teams through a reconciliation process, who then pass them on for review and approval onshore. These snapshots are communicated up the business chain daily, he said.

"Everywhere internally, up to our portfolio managers, the people making the deals, they rely on that every morning, it relates to having an understanding of where the fund is at, and they'll probably make some activity or different decisions based on that."

Lunch near the office & afternoon work

Garcia's favorite lunch spot is Naked Farmer, which serves seasonal, locally sourced food, like the Backyard BBQ chicken bowl for about $15.

"Usually a couple of us from our team go grab lunch, whether we eat off-site or bring it back," he said. When eating in the office, they have the option to dine in what's known as "the hub" — a lounge area centrally located with seating and coffee stations.

Sometimes the company hosts "lunch and learns" led by portfolio managers or other high-level execs, he added.

"After that, we kind of just continue the rest of the day, maybe more emails, maybe different meetings," he said.

The work might include reviewing reports such as fund expense logs or net asset value (NAV) packages or doing research on any technical accounting or finance matters impacting assigned funds. He might also help coach or train junior staff.

Wrap up the day

Garcia usually ends his day at 5:30 p.m. or 6:00 p.m. He often heads straight home to spend time with his fiancee (they're getting married in Puerto Rico this month).

His evening routine of late has been "change, relax, and then we walk the Key Biscayne bridge," said Garcia. "Really good views and fresh air."

One of his favorite spots for drinks and hanging out is Medium Cool in South Beach, a swanky cocktail lounge with live music in the Gale Hotel.

To get a Cuban food fix, he has long frequented the famous Cafe Versailles restaurant in the city's Little Havana neighborhood.

"For a lot of people it's like a staple — you have to try it when you're in Miami," he said. "For me, Versailles is something I saw growing up. My whole family's down here and I would go with my grandmother and we would go late nights."

• Meet Peter Cancro, the Jersey Mike's founder who's selling the sandwich chain to Blackstone.
• The deal makes Cancro one of the world's 500 richest people with a roughly $7.5 billion fortune.
• Cancro went from a single sandwich shop to about 3,000 locations by using a franchise model.

Meet Peter Cancro, who just agreed to sell his submarine-sandwich chain to Blackstone in a deal that's made him one of the 500 richest people on the planet.

The founder and CEO of Jersey Mike's is now worth an estimated $7.5 billion, propelling him into 390th place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Cancro ranks higher on the rich list than Netflix's Reed Hastings and eBay's Jeff Skoll — worth $7.2 billion each — and not far behind Giorgio Armani ($7.6 billion) and Mark Cuban ($7.9 billion).

Blackstone said Tuesday it had agreed to buy a majority stake in Jersey Mike's. Cancro will retain a sizable equity stake and still lead the company, Blackstone said.

Jersey Mike's has about 3,000 US locations that generated more than $3 billion of revenue in 2023, making it the second-largest sub-style sandwich chain after Subway. It's also known for its ad spots featuring actor Danny DeVito.

The company's story dates back to 1971 when Cancro, then a 14-year-old student, began working at a Jersey Shore sandwich shop called Mike's Subs. At age 17, he learned the owner wanted to sell so he bought the business with the help of a $125,000 loan from his football coach.

Cancro changed the company's name to Jersey Mike's when he began franchising in 1987. He later rolled out a program to help store managers become franchise owners, which he named after his old coach.

Blackstone's deal values the sandwich chain at about $8 billion including debt, and includes an earnout agreement whereby the full price is only paid after Jersey Mike's expands to 4,000 stores, an unnamed source told Reuters.

The world's largest alternative asset manager — with more than $1.1 trillion of assets under management — has snapped up other franchisors in the past including Hilton Hotels, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, and 7Brew.