📅 On This Day
Blackstone's 2007 IPO Threw Open Private Equity's Doors
In June 2007, Blackstone Group went public in one of the decade's most closely watched listings, raising $4.13 billion. Co-founders Stephen Schwarzman and Peter Peterson had built the firm from $400,000 in seed capital starting in 1985. That landmark moment set private equity on a path toward public-market structures — eventually placing dividend-paying vehicles within reach of everyday investors.
From $400,000 in 1985 to a $4.13B IPO: BX's public debut reshaped who could access alternative-asset income.
BX — Blackstone Group Inc
🇺🇸 US
Source: Physician on FIRE / Kiplinger via search results, citing Blackstone IPO history
📅 On This Day
Blackstone's 2007 IPO Threw Open Private Equity's Doors
In June 2007, Blackstone Group went public in one of the decade's most closely watched listings, raising $4.13 billion. Co-founders Stephen Schwarzman and Peter Peterson had built the firm from $400,000 in seed capital starting in 1985. That landmark moment set private equity on a path toward public-market structures — eventually placing dividend-paying vehicles within reach of everyday investors.
From $400,000 in 1985 to a $4.13B IPO: BX's public debut reshaped who could access alternative-asset income.
BX — Blackstone CDR (CAD Hedged)
🇺🇸 US
Source: Physician on FIRE / Kiplinger via search results, citing Blackstone IPO history
🌍 Around the World
Singapore Abolished Shareholder Dividend Tax — and Changed Everything
Before 2003, Singapore taxed dividends twice — once at the corporate level, again in shareholders' hands. The government dismantled that system in stages, making a one-tier framework fully mandatory by January 2008: the 17% corporate tax is the final tax, and shareholders — local or foreign — owe exactly 0% on dividends received. That single policy pivot seeded the sprawling S-REIT market, where 5–7% yields land entirely tax-free.
Zero withholding tax for all investors makes Singapore one of the world's most income-friendly markets.
🇸🇬 SG
Source: IRAS Singapore dividend guidance; PwC Singapore tax summary
🔥 Dividend Streak
Utilities Dominate U.S. Streak Rankings — and It Is No Accident
American States Water has raised its dividend for 71 consecutive years, putting it atop the U.S. Dividend King table, with industrial stalwart Dover close behind at 69 years. Rate-regulated water and power monopolies generate slow, predictable cash flows that hold up through recessions that force cyclical peers to freeze payouts. The sector's dominance at the top of streak rankings is a quiet reminder that business-model stability outlasts headline yield.
AWR's streak, running from 1954, shows that boring, regulated cash flow can be the ultimate dividend engine.
AWR — American States Water Company
🇺🇸 US
Source: Sure Dividend; Seeking Alpha
💡 Did You Know
When Companies Split, the Dividend Streak Follows the Legal Shell
Under S&P's Dividend Aristocrats methodology, a streak belongs to whichever entity retains the original ticker and CUSIP — spun-off children start the clock at zero. DuPont's three-way split following its 2019 merger with Dow Chemical erased a century-plus payment history for all resulting fragments. Abbott and AbbVie carved out a rare exception after their 2013 separation, with both retaining Aristocrat status — a reminder that corporate identity, not operating assets, legally owns the dividend legacy.
The streak tracks the corporate shell, not the factory — a legal fiction with very real consequences for income investors.
🇺🇸 US
Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices methodology; DuPont investor relations; Abbott Labs investor relations