Blackstone founder Stephen Schwarzman holds back on Ron DeSantis after meetings

The GOP megadonor founder of investment giant Blackstone Inc. has hesitated about backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis after meeting with the would-be Republican presidential candidate in Tallahassee.

The exploratory trip failed to convince billionaire Stephen Schwarzman that DeSantis is ready to command the national stage, Bloomberg reported.

But a Blackstone spokesperson denied any DeSantis disenchantment on Schwarzman’s part. “Prior reporting suggesting Steve changed his mind after meeting the Governor is simply incorrect,” they told The Post. “Steve has met the governor several times and has great respect for him.”

DeSantis — who is expected to formally enter the White House race early next month — has battled polling numbers that show him a distant second behind former President Donald Trump while struggling to coax high-profile endorsements.

A growing number of vital GOP donors — including Schwarzman — appear unsure that DeSantis, 44, can topple Trump, 76, for party supremacy.

However, a source close to Schwarzman told The Post that the investment mogul typically does not donate to candidates until the general election cycle.

A longtime friend of Trump, Schwarzman advised the former president on economic matters and served as chair of his White House Strategic and Policy Forum.

But he later sought to distance himself from the 45th president, particularly after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol.

Schwarzman publicly called for new voices to lead both the Republicans and Democrats this past January.

“We need to move on for both parties to the next generation of leaders,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg’s Wall Street Week at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The investment titan isn’t the only influential GOP benefactor to wait and see about DeSantis. 

Gristedes CEO John Catsimitidis, Citadel chief Ken Griffin and Brokers founder Thomas Peterffy have all either declined to endorse the Florida governor or are still mulling their options, according to reports.

Last week, billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel told Bari Weiss on the “Honestly” podcast that DeSantis would be a “a terrific president” who Thiel would “strongly support” as the Republican nominee. However, Thiel stopped short of endorsing the Florida governor in the 2024 primaries.

“I do worry that focusing on the woke issue as ground zero is not quite enough,” Thiel told Weiss. “Things can be both important and a distraction at the same time. The focus on identity politics, on the woke religion is probably a distraction from stagnation. It’s a distraction from economics. It’s a distraction from the way in which the younger generation in the US is probably gonna have a hard time getting the same standard of living as their parents.”

Despite these setbacks, DeSantis still boasts a formidable campaign war chest of more than $110 million and remains widely popular among rank-and-file conservative voters.

While some GOP figures bemoan his starring role in the nation’s culture wars, DeSantis has continued to press for and pass new legislation on flashpoint issues ranging from trans surgeries for minors to critical race theory.

“There is a lot of noise right now,” a DeSantis source told The Post Wednesday. “Polls, donors, this, that. He is just continuing to govern and get things accomplished. It’s early, and he’s just getting ready to fight. Dismiss him at your peril.”

The source added he expects new endorsements of DeSantis to roll in as Trump’s polling figures recede.

“He [Trump] got a boost from the indictment, he was made a sympathetic character thanks to [Manhattan DA] Alvin Bragg,” the person said. “That’s going to fade as things get serious here and people realize what’s at stake and who is capable of actually getting things done.”