Blackstone's quarterly profit gets boost from asset pile, AI investment gains

July 23 : Blackstone, the world's largest alternative asset manager, reported rising income for the second quarter on Thursday, buoyed by growing assets under management and reaping profit from a mammoth bet on artificial intelligence. The New York-based company said inflows in the quarter pushed total assets to $1.35 trillion, while distributable earnings, or profit available to shareholders, rose 26 per cent on a per-share basis to $1.52. Blackstone shares rose 2.7 per cent in premarket trading. The stock has slipped 20 per cent this year through last close.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