The investment group that had made its partners fabulously rich in private equity suddenly fancied some of the public's cash. Co-founder Stephen Schwarzman trousered half a billion dollars from the sale. He was one of the smartest guys in the boom. On day one, the shares closed at $35. Today, they are $5.50. The debt upon which the vast majority of private-equity deals depended has dried up. It was, as Time magazine observed: "A classic case of selling at the top to the suckers, which would be us."