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EQUITY-BASED COMPENSATION | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2015
EQUITY-BASED COMPENSATION |
15. | EQUITY-BASED COMPENSATION
The Partnership has granted equity-based compensation awards to Blackstone’s senior managing directors, non-partner professionals, non-professionals and selected external advisers under the Partnership’s 2007 Equity Incentive Plan (the “Equity Plan”), the majority of which to date were granted in connection with Blackstone’s initial public offering (“IPO”). The Equity Plan allows for the granting of options, unit appreciation rights or other unit-based awards (units, restricted units, restricted common units, deferred restricted common units, phantom restricted common units or other unit-based awards based in whole or in part on the fair value of the Blackstone common units or Blackstone Holdings Partnership Units) which may contain certain service or performance requirements. As of January 1, 2015, the Partnership had the ability to grant 165,943,809 units under the Equity Plan. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015, the Partnership recorded compensation expense of $78.8 million and $561.5 million, respectively, in relation to its equity-based awards with corresponding tax benefits of $9.0 million and $36.0 million, respectively. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014, the Partnership recorded compensation expense of $202.8 million and $584.4 million, respectively, in relation to its equity-based awards with corresponding tax benefits of $6.3 million and $19.9 million, respectively. As of September 30, 2015, there was $1.1 billion of estimated unrecognized compensation expense related to unvested awards. This cost is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 5.2 years. Total vested and unvested outstanding units, including Blackstone common units, Blackstone Holdings Partnership Units and deferred restricted common units, were 1,192,166,487 as of September 30, 2015. Total outstanding unvested phantom units were 27,326 as of September 30, 2015. A summary of the status of the Partnership’s unvested equity-based awards as of September 30, 2015 and of changes during the period January 1, 2015 through September 30, 2015 is presented below:
|  | Blackstone Holdings |  |  | The Blackstone Group L.P. |
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | Equity Settled Awards |  |  | Cash Settled Awards |
Unvested Units |  | Partnership Units |  |  | Weighted- Average Grant Date Fair Value |  |  | Deferred Restricted Common Units and Options |  |  | Weighted- Average Grant Date Fair Value |  |  | Phantom Units |  |  | Weighted- Average Grant Date Fair Value |
Balance, December 31, 2014 |  |  | 33,498,237 |  |  | $ | 26.19 |  |  |  | 17,569,372 |  |  | $ | 16.95 |  |  |  | 1,455 |  |  | $ | 31.95 |
Granted |  |  | 28,207,130 |  |  |  | 38.76 |  |  |  | 5,171,322 |  |  |  | 35.74 |  |  |  | 16,312 |  |  |  | 35.31 |
Vested |  |  | (19,681,411 | ) |  |  | 29.62 |  |  |  | (7,536,719 | ) |  |  | 17.93 |  |  |  | (815 | ) |  |  | 32.62 |
Forfeited |  |  | (934,536 | ) |  |  | 23.49 |  |  |  | (228,735 | ) |  |  | 21.01 |  |  |  | — |  |  |  | — |
Exchanged |  |  | — |  |  |  | — |  |  |  | (10,374 | ) |  |  | 28.23 |  |  |  | 10,374 |  |  |  | 28.23 |
Balance, September 30, 2015 |  |  | 41,089,420 |  |  | $ | 33.24 |  |  |  | 14,964,866 |  |  | $ | 22.88 |  |  |  | 27,326 |  |  | $ | 32.53 |
Units Expected to Vest The following unvested units, after expected forfeitures, as of September 30, 2015, are expected to vest:
|  | Units |  |  | Weighted-Average Service Period in Years |
Blackstone Holdings Partnership Units |  |  | 33,291,174 |  |  |  | 4.6 |
Deferred Restricted Blackstone Common Units |  |  | 12,633,401 |  |  |  | 2.1 |
Total Equity-Based Awards |  |  | 45,924,575 |  |  |  | 3.9 |
Phantom Units |  |  | 18,457 |  |  |  | 4.0 |
Equity-Based Awards with Performance Conditions The Partnership has also granted certain equity-based awards with performance requirements. These awards are based on the performance of certain businesses over a three to five year period beginning January 2012, relative to a predetermined threshold. Blackstone has determined that it is probable that the relevant performance thresholds will be exceeded in future periods and, therefore, has recorded compensation expense since the beginning of the performance period of $3.4 million.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for compensation-related costs for equity-based compensation, which may include disclosure of policies, compensation plan details, allocation of equity compensation, incentive distributions, equity-based arrangements to obtain goods and services, deferred compensation arrangements, employee stock ownership plan details and employee stock purchase plan details. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 718 -SubTopic 40 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6418621&loc=d3e17540-113929 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 505 -SubTopic 50 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=51659978&loc=d3e25284-112666 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 718 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6415400&loc=d3e5070-113901 Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 718 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6415400&loc=d3e5047-113901 Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 718 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 4 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6415400&loc=d3e5444-113901 Reference 6: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher SEC -Name Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) -Number Topic 14 + Details
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