Want to crush competitors? Forget SoftBank, Blackstone suggests; it can write $500 million checks, too

Back in January, Blackstone -- the investment firm whose assets under management surpassed a jaw-dropping half a trillion dollars earlier this year -- quietly began piecing together a new, growth equity platform called Blackstone Growth, or BXG. Step one was hiring away Jon Korngold from General Atlantic, where he'd spent the previous 18 years, including as a managing director and a member of its management committee. Step two has been for Korngold, who is responsible for running the new program, to build a team, which he has been doing throughout the year, bringing in "people who speak the language of Blackstone," he says, including from TCV, Andreessen Horowitz, Carlyle, Vista Private Equity, NEA, and SoftBank .