Afternoon Reading: Round the Blackstone Horn

Clearly, Blackstone is the story of the day. The private-equity giant reported dismal fourth-quarter results. Blackstone swung to a net loss of $170 million in the quarter from net income of $1.18 billion a year earlier. Its shares are down 3.7% to $14.03, that is a 55% decline from its IPO price of June. Here is a look at the reactions across the Web. (Also, see Deal Journal’s live blogging of its earnings conference call.)

Portfolio.com’s Felix Salmon points out that China Investment Corp.’s $3 billion investment in Blackstone isn’t working out so great now. Granted, not a new point, but given the continued slide in Blackstone’s share price, it seems worth noting.

The Prince of Wall Street blog writes that private equity is down but not out. “This downturn will pass and private equity will come roaring back with the largest war chest it has ever possessed and more brazen tactics.”

Dan Primack over at peHUB has some advice for investors: Don’t buy Blackstone. Ever. Primack isn’t bearish on Blackstone, he just believes “the public market still doesnt understand Blackstone.”

The firm’s results do raise an interesting question, one that Jon C. Ogg made at 24/7 Wall Street on Friday: “If the share prices post the same performance ahead as they have seen since an IPO, it would be very conceivable that Steve Schwarzman and other officers decide it’s time to go private again.”

Tidbits:

All Things Digital’s Kara Swisher debunks TechCrunch’s post Friday that a sale of news site Digg was imminent, and the company was generating interest from who else but those old nemesis Google and Microsoft.TechCrunch today writes that Digg’s user are doing their part to kill a deal.As the credit crunch sweeps the globe, Asian markets remain stable, according to FT.com’s Alphaville.Citigroup most certainly didn’t avoid the credit crunch, that doesn’t mean it got out of the M&A game (or stopped dancing). Alphaville reports that since September, it has lent more money than any of its rivals for M&A.Friday, Tyler Savery at Sirius Buzz offers up six points of interest concerning CBS Radio and AOL Radio combining operations.