The Apollo Global Management founder stayed faithful to billionaire tradition with a blowout 60th birthday party earlier this month at the oceanfront family property in Southampton. The usual suspects for such parties were out in force, from finance giants such as Michael Milken and Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein to politicians including Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Senator Charles Schumer. Elton John played a private show for the 200 guests, reportedly pocketing at least $1 million. Howard Stern was apparently a big fan, gushing about the party on his show on Sirius Satellite Radio afterward (the New York Times noted that Black sits on Sirius' board). Allusions to Schwarzman's 2007 party have been immediate, and possibly even in the Hamptons air at Black's party this August.
Black's has been the most publicized private party this year, but it wasn't the only one by any means. While public records only reveal several such events -- most recently Averell Mortimer's Hamptons party for his wife, socialite Gigi Mortimer -- Marto at Executive Visions teased Fortune about the number of parties that fly under the radar. "In the summer, there could be upwards of 30 or 40 of these large events going on that have seven-figure budgets."
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