$100 million buys a lot of books

NEW YORK -- Stephen Schwarzman, the billionaire chairman of leveraged-buyout firm Blackstone Group, has pledged $100 million to the New York Public Library, which will rename its main Manhattan building on Fifth Avenue after him.

The guaranteed donation, the largest to a New York City cultural organization, will be the cornerstone of a $1-billion plan to expand the institution, Paul LeClerc, the library's president, said Tuesday at a news conference.

Renovating the 97-year-old library, whose entrance is guarded on each side by stone lions, is scheduled to be completed by 2014.

Schwarzman, 61, co-founded New York-based Blackstone in 1985 with $400,000. He reaped $684 million from the company's initial public offering last year and his remaining 23% stake in the firm, now manager of the world's largest buyout fund, is valued at about $3.78 billion.