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The wealth of US private capital bosses jumped by more than $56bn in 2024 as shares of Blackstone, Apollo and KKR hit new highs, fuelled by rapid growth and their addition to the main US stock index.
The share surge has enriched private equity pioneers such as Blackstone chief executive Stephen Schwarzman and KKR co-founders Henry Kravis and George Roberts, and spawned a new set of billionaire dealmakers in the industry ahead of expected deregulation from the incoming Trump administration that could fuel dealmaking and asset growth in 2025.
Among the seven largest listed US private capital firms, gains in shares held by the industry’s top executives and founders were over $56bn, led by the leadership of Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative manager, according to Financial Times calculations based on public filings.
Blackstone’s top leaders saw their shares rise by $13.5bn in 2024 as its market value soared nearly 50 per cent to $214bn.
Its stock was propelled by the growth of its assets, which have soared beyond $1tn. In September 2023, Blackstone became the first private equity group included in the S&P 500 index.
Analysts expect Blackstone funds for wealthy private investors in real estate, credit and private equity to generate lucrative fees in 2025, bolstering profits. Expectations for its performance have pushed its valuation to more than 40 times its distributable earnings over the past 12 months, a proxy for the group’s cash flow.
Most of the growth in executives’ holdings went to Blackstone chief executive Schwarzman, whose stock rose by more than $11bn this year. The holdings of president Jonathan Gray also gained billions in value, putting his stake at about $7.5bn.
It has also meant two other top executives — private equity head Joe Baratta and chief financial officer Michael Chae — held shareholdings worth over $1bn, according to Blackstone’s proxy statement.
KKR shares performed the best of any large private equity group in 2024, as its stock nearly doubled due to accelerated fundraising, with nearly $120bn in new capital over the past 12 months. It was also added to the S&P 500 in June.
The gains mean the stakes of co-founders Kravis and Roberts both exceeded $12bn. Co-chiefs Scott Nuttall and Joe Bae have also seen their stockholdings soar to about $2.7bn, fuelled by KKR stock’s 30 per cent average annual return since they assumed leadership in October 2021.
Apollo Global, which was added to the S&P 500 in December, has also seen its stock nearly double in 2024, bolstering shareholdings of chief executive Marc Rowan and co-founders Leon Black and Josh Harris, who both left the firm in 2021. The share gains have also created large windfalls for a new generation of leadership inside Apollo who are now paid mostly in stock.
James Belardi, co-founder and chief executive of Apollo’s insurance unit Athene, which oversees about $350bn, saw the value of his Apollo shares rise above $1bn this year while Apollo co-presidents Scott Kleinman and James Zelter held shares worth more than $500mn, according to its annual report. The duo were given large stock grants as part of their promotions in 2017 and were in line to jointly lead Apollo had Rowan left to become the US Treasury secretary under President-elect Donald Trump.
Apollo’s next generation of leadership has also benefited from the leap in the share price. In September 2023, Apollo granted $550mn of restricted stock units to a leadership group of John Zito, deputy chief investment officer of credit, Grant Kvalheim, president of Athene, and two senior private equity partners, Matt Nord and David Sambur. The value of that award has since roughly doubled to more than $1bn.
However, in recent months, executives like Kleinman, Belardi, Zelter and Rowan have either sold large blocks of Apollo stock or signalled their intent to do so.
The top executives at Ares, TPG and Blue Owl all saw their shares gain by over $4bn in value in 2024, according to FT calculations, bolstered by share gains of 50-65 per cent.
In addition to stock gains, private capital executives stand to earn large windfalls from quarterly dividends on their shareholdings. Collectively, top executives at the seven firms have received nearly $3bn in dividends this year, according to FT calculations.
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