Barry Sternlicht founded Starwood Capital Group in 1991 and built it into one of the world's largest private real-estate investors, managing roughly $130 billion in assets for institutional and high-net-worth partners. Over more than three decades the firm has structured investments with an asset value exceeding $280 billion across hotels, housing, offices, industrial property, and land.
Sternlicht is also chairman and CEO of Starwood Property Trust, a large publicly traded commercial-real-estate finance company, and he created the Starwood Hotels group (including the W brand) before it was sold to Marriott in 2016. His firm's non-traded vehicle, Starwood Real Estate Income Trust (SREIT), became a high-profile case study in the strains facing private real-estate funds.
His position illustrates NOLIGARCHY's asset-concentration theme: a single firm controlling an enormous, opaque pool of real estate and real-estate debt, with the power to set the terms on which ordinary investors can move money in and out.
What they control
- Starwood Capital Group: about $130 billion in assets under management
- Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD): a large commercial-real-estate finance company
- Starwood Real Estate Income Trust (SREIT): a multibillion-dollar non-traded REIT
- A historical portfolio spanning roughly 300,000 residential units and thousands of hotels
- The 1 Hotels brand and, formerly, the Starwood Hotels group sold to Marriott in 2016
Key institutions & holdings
Private alternative-investment firm focused on global real estate; about $130 billion in AUM.
Publicly traded diversified commercial-real-estate finance company.
Non-traded REIT that restricted investor redemptions starting in 2024.
Key facts
- Founded Starwood Capital in 1991; the firm manages roughly $130 billion in assets.
- Has structured investments with an asset value exceeding $280 billion over more than 30 years.
- Net worth estimated around $4.4 billion in 2025.
- Created the Starwood Hotels group, including the W brand, later sold to Marriott in 2016.
- In May 2024 SREIT cut its redemption cap to 0.33 percent of net assets per month from up to 2 percent.
- SREIT continued to manage heavy redemption pressure and property sales into 2025 and 2026.
Timeline
- 1991Founds Starwood Capital Group.
- 1990sBuilds the Starwood Hotels group and launches the W Hotels brand.
- 2009Launches Starwood Property Trust.
- 2016Marriott acquires Starwood Hotels & Resorts.
- 2024-05SREIT sharply restricts investor redemptions amid a liquidity crunch.
Controversies
SREIT redemption gating · 2024-2026
Starwood limited withdrawals from its non-traded SREIT fund beginning in 2024 and sold properties to preserve liquidity, trapping some investors who wanted out and drawing scrutiny of the non-traded REIT model.
Non-traded REIT liquidity and fees · 2024-2026
Vehicles like SREIT charge ongoing fees while limiting when retail investors can redeem, raising questions about how such funds market liquidity they cannot always honor in downturns.
Network
- Marriott InternationalAcquirer of his former hotel companyBought Starwood Hotels & Resorts, which Sternlicht built, in 2016.
- Institutional limited partnersCapital backersSovereign wealth funds and public pensions supply much of Starwood Capital's investment capital.
Why this matters
When a single private firm controls roughly $130 billion of housing, hotels, and offices and can unilaterally limit when ordinary investors in its funds get their money back, the terms of access to both real estate and the savings invested in it are set privately, outside public markets and with far less disclosure than listed companies face.