Blackstone Inc said on Thursday its second-quarter distributable earnings slumped nearly 40%, owing to a sharp drop in asset sales mostly from its real estate and credit businesses. Blackstone said its net profit from asset sales plunged 82% to $388.4 million from $2.2 billion in the year-ago period, as higher interest rates, sticky inflation, and economic uncertainty have continued to weigh on its merger-and-acquisition activity. A major share of the reduced asset disposals came from Blackstone's real estate unit, where its net profit sank 94%, while that of its credit division dropped 46%.