Blackstone Group, the private equity firm which went public last year, reported a first-quarter loss on Thursday.

The firm said it had a net loss of 6 cents per share, or $93.6 million, excluding charges. Last year it earned $957.8 million.

Revenue for the quarter was down 94 percent to $68.5 million from $1.14 billion a year ago. The company's share of income from its investment funds became negative.

Turbulent markets throughout the world persisted in the first quarter, affecting virtually all asset pricing across credit and equity markets, Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman said.

The firm prefers to use a figure called economic net income which excludes some compensation costs. Its economic net income was a loss of 6 cents per share, compared with $838.5 million, or 75 cents, in the year earlier period.

Shares of Blackstone rose 90 cents, or 4.62 percent to $20.40

Investment