Top Firm President Enjoys A $64m Cash Out

Reuters reports that James, who joined Blackstone in 2002 as co-founder Stephen Schwarzman's right-hand man and is credited with much of the company's expansion into asset classes beyond private equity, sold 3.5 million shares, referred to as common units, between February 13 and February 15, according to a filing submitted late on February 15.

James, also chief operating officer, holds part of his Blackstone units in a family trust. He received $52.6 million from salary, bonus and holdings in the private equity firm in 2011, according to the latest figures available. That compares with $54.8m in 2010.

In the meantime, the news agency also reports that Gleacher & Co, which lost $78m last year, gave its chief executive officer a cash bonus of $750,000 for his 2012 performance, the New York investment bank said in a U.S. regulatory filing.

The cash payment represents a shift for Gleacher. It gave CEO Thomas Hughes a signing bonus of 1 million shares of restricted stock and 3 million stock options when he joined the company in May 2011 to immediately align his 'financial interests with those of our stockholders', its compensation committee said last April. The shares represented 85% of his compensation.

Blackstone president cashes in $64 million of his shares in company

Gleacher CEO gets $750,000 cash bonus in compensation shift