The Uprising against Blackstone: the struggle of one country against the world's largest commercial property owner.

The company Blackstone holds the top spot as the largest commercial real estate owner in history. Over the past two decades, it has quietly become the owner of small blocks of apartments, nursing homes, student dormitories, railway arches, film studios, offices, hotels, logistics warehouses, and data centers.

Blackstone owns not just real estate; it owns everything – or at least it might seem that way when you start to look into its vast array of assets. If you wear Spanx, have ever "matched" with someone on Bumble, stayed at a Hilton hotel or a Centre Parcs resort, visited Legoland, Madame Tussauds, the London Dungeon, or have been to see an elderly relative at the South Cross care home, then you have encountered a company that is part of the Blackstone empire.

The main office of Blackstone is located in a skyscraper on Park Avenue in New York City. Every Monday, the company's founder Steve Schwarzman and CEO Jon Gray gather with senior partners around a large round table on the 31st floor to discuss investment memorandums sent the previous week by teams from 26 offices across the United States, Europe, and Asia. This is where key investment decisions for Blackstone are made.

Last year, the company invested $270 billion, and the total value of the assets it manages amounted to $881 billion, which is slightly more than the gross domestic product of Switzerland and twice that of Denmark. Blackstone's investments include office spaces as well as buildings that even the owners don't know what to do with. Some investments are brought back to the table several times before they are eventually approved or rejected.

Blackstone is an asset management company, a private financial firm that invests money from pension funds and insurance companies. It is often confused with BlackRock, an asset management firm founded by Larry Fink, who worked at Blackstone in the 1980s and established its bond investment division. In 1994, BlackRock became an independent company, and Blackstone sold its shares in it.

Blackstone has already made significant investments in the real estate market. In the early 2000s, Blackstone's real estate division was known for its purchases of office spaces and hotels. Now, it seems to be more interested in life science laboratories and warehouses leased to companies involved in last-mile delivery. However, the acquisition of residential properties attracts attention on a massive scale. In recent years, the company has become known for creating a high-yield active class of residential real estate, meaning it buys housing. Unlike warehouses or office buildings, the main source of rental income from apartments comes from the people living in them. Blackstone emphasizes that its top priority is providing quality services, but the financial industry, anticipating increased profitability, may seem at odds with the interests of tenants.

Considering Blackstone and its subsidiaries, it can be said that they influence not only the real estate market but also culture as a whole. The company has been accused of being one of the factors contributing to the global housing crisis by driving up rental prices, reducing maintenance costs, and imposing penalties on tenants. Blackstone tries to defend itself by pointing out that investments in real estate on such a large scale do help in establishing new housing stock.