Blackstone beats profit estimates on AI gains as assets hit $1.35 trillion

July 23 : Blackstone's second-quarter income rose to beat market expectations on Thursday, as the world's largest alternative asset manager benefited from growing assets under management and reaping profits from a mammoth bet on artificial intelligence.The New York-based company said inflows in the quarter pushed total assets to $1.35 trillion. Distributable earnings, or profit available to shareholders, rose 26 per cent on a per-share basis to $1.52, beating estimates of $1.35, according to LSEG data.Deals to sell a stake in three data centers to Digital Realty and a majority holding in power infrastructure company Sabre Industries to TPG helped push its haul from monetizing assets to $31.8 billion. Market volatility had hampered some deals in the first quarter, but Blackstone picked up t