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Steve Schwarzman, billionaire founder and Blackstone CEO, expects the coronavirus pandemic to cause a $5 trillion wipeout of US GDP.
- Blackstone founder and CEO Steve Schwarzman expects the novel coronavirus pandemic to wipe out $5 trillion in US GDP.
- The private equity billionaire told Bloomberg that the outbreak is "putting stress on everything."
- Social distancing measures are causing massive disruption in the business community, Schwarzman said.
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Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman expects the novel coronavirus outbreak to wipe out nearly a quarter of US economic output this year.
"We have a GDP of somewhere around $21 trillion and we're probably going to miss $5 trillion of it," the chief of the private equity titan told Bloomberg on Tuesday. The pandemic is temporarily "putting stress on everything," he added.
However, Schwarzman said the current turmoil could present an opportunity for cash-rich businesses as they can make "very significant investments." He added that Blackstone was "looking aggressively" to make use of its $150 billion war chest.
US economic data continues to expose the damage from the coronavirus pandemic. In the last two weeks of March, US jobless claims spiked to a record 10 million, reflecting a sudden surge in unemployment due to containment measures such as shutting down bars and restaurants and ordering people to stay at home. The March jobs report showed the US economy lost 701,000 jobs, much worse than economists expected.
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