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Investor Byron Wien of Blackstone dies at 90

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Byron Wien, American investor and vice chairman of Blackstone Advisory Partners

  • Famed investor Byron Wien has died at age 90.
  • His annual "Ten Surprises" list, which he wrote for 38 years, was required reading on Wall Street.

Byron Wien, noted investor whose annual "Ten Surprises" list became required reading on Wall Street, has died at age 90.

His death was reported by Blackstone, where he spent the past 14 years, and was most recently vice chairman of its private wealth solutions business.

Wien published his "Ten Surprises" list for 38 consecutive years, which was considered a must-read by many on Wall Street. In his most recent list, he predicted a bottom for financial markets would arrive by mid-2023, followed by a drastic rebound.

Wien said a "surprise" was an event that the average investor would assign only a 1-in-3 chance of happening but that he believed is "probable" with a more than 50% likelihood of taking place.

He started the list tradition in 1986 when he was the chief U.S. investment strategist at Morgan Stanley.

In recent years, he wrote the list alongside Joe Zidle, chief investment strategist for Blackstone's private wealth solutions group.

"Byron's life was remarkable in so many ways," Steve Schwarzman and Jon Gray wrote in an internal note sent to Blackstone. "Orphaned at a young age, he began working at 15, graduated from Harvard and led a successful career on Wall Street that spanned many decades."

New York Magazine named him as one of the most influential people on Wall Street in 2006. "Though fortune-telling is de rigueur on Wall Street, Wien's predictions are anticipated with the sweaty angst reserved for interest-rate hikes," the magazine wrote at the time.

— CNBC's Yun Li and Claudia Johnson contributed to this article.

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