Jon Gray: bubble anxiety can make investors more cautious

Blackstone's president and COO, Jon Gray, says the current talk of market bubbles can have a silver lining. The pervasive negativity and caution, he argued, can help stop things from getting out of hand rather than letting markets run unchecked. Gray drew a distinction between the dot‑com era and today's AI run, noting the valuations look different: Cisco traded at more than 100 times earnings at its peak, while Nvidia trades at around 43 times earnings today.

He warned that if the rally runs for years and people assume growth will never end, that becomes a risk. He reflected on lessons from his career. After joining Blackstone in 1992 and working in real estate, he bought a building in California that lost money — his first loss, he said, partly because he was blinded by recent success and "the mania of crowds." The firm's acquisition of Hilton in 2007 also taught him to focus on the "neighborhood" of an investment: underlying tailwinds, business quality, and management.

United States, California

jon gray, blackstone, market bubbles, ai run, nvidia, cisco, earnings multiples, hilton acquisition, real estate, investment neighborhood