The Blackstone Group Inc.
Q2 2022 Earnings Call
Jul 21, 2022, 9:00 a.m. ET
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Good day, everyone and welcome to the Blackstone second quarter 2022 investor call hosted by Weston Tucker, head of shareholder relations. My name is Ben and I'm your event manager. During the presentation, your lines remain in a listen-only mode. [Operator instructions] I'd like to advise all parties that this conference is being recorded.
And now, I would like to hand it over to your host. Weston, the floor is yours.
Weston Tucker -- Head of Shareholder Relations
Terrific. Thanks, Ben. Please see the risk factors section of our 10-K. We'll also refer to non-GAAP measures and you'll find reconciliations in the press release on the shareholders' page of our website.
Also, note that nothing on this call constitutes an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase an interest in any Blackstone fund. This audiocast is copyrighted material of Blackstone and may not be duplicated without consent. On results, we reported a GAAP net loss for the quarter of $256 million and distributable earnings of $2 billion or $1.49 per common share. And we declared a dividend of $1.27 per share paid to holders of record as of August 1st.
With that, I'll turn the call over to Steve.
Steve Schwarzman -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Thanks a lot, Weston. Good morning, and thank you for joining our call. As you know, the second quarter in the first half of '22 represented some of the worst periods for market performance in history. Investors were anticipating extremely high levels of inflation, rising interest rates, and a slowing economy.
The S&P fell 16% in the quarter and 20% in the first six months of the year, the largest first-half decline for US equities in over 50 years. Debt markets experienced the largest decline on record. Taken together, the typical 60/40 portfolio produced its worst return since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Capital markets activity, of course, slowed dramatically, including US IPOs down over 90% year-on-year.
And commodity prices soared but now appear to be backing off from their highest levels. Despite these hostile conditions Blackstone again delivered outstanding results for our investors. Distributable earnings in Q2 nearly doubled year over year to $2 billion. One of the two best quarters in our history.