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KKR & Co. Inc. NYSE: KKR reported fourth-quarter 2025 results highlighted by higher fee-related earnings, record fundraising, and continued growth in embedded gains, while executives also outlined a strategic acquisition intended to expand the firm’s reach in sports and GP solutions.
Quarterly results and fee-related profitability
Management said the firm generated $1.08 of fee-related earnings (FRE) per share, $1.42 of total operating earnings per share, and $1.12 of adjusted net income (ANI) per share in the fourth quarter. The $1.12 ANI figure included a carried interest repayment obligation discussed on the prior earnings call; excluding that item, KKR said ANI per share would have been $1.30.
Management fees totaled $1.1 billion, up 24% year-over-year. Excluding catch-up fees in both periods, management fees grew 22%. For full-year 2025, management fees were $4.1 billion, with private equity, real assets, and credit each contributing approximately one-third of total fees, which management said reflects a more diversified management fee profile as the firm has grown.
Other fee-related items discussed on the call included total transaction and monitoring fees of $269 million and capital markets fees of $225 million, which management attributed to activity across private equity, credit, and infrastructure. Fee-related performance revenues were $34 million.
On the expense side, fee-related compensation was 17.5%, which management described as the midpoint of its guided range. Other operating expenses were $205 million. Overall, fee-related earnings were $972 million, up 15% year-over-year, and the FRE margin was 68% for the quarter and just over 69% for full-year 2025.
Insurance and total “insurance economics”
KKR reported Insurance segment operating earnings of $268 million for the fourth quarter. Management emphasized that the Insurance investment portfolio is reported largely based on cash outcomes and said operating earnings would have been approximately $100 million higher in the quarter if investment marks were included. In that framing, management said Insurance operating earnings would have been approximately $320 million in Q4 if the “more recurring performance” of the portfolio were included.
Management also highlighted supplemental disclosure intended to show broader economics tied to Global Atlantic that are not fully captured in Insurance segment operating earnings alone. The company said total Insurance economics in 2025 were $1.9 billion net of compensation, up 15% year-over-year, including management fees earned under an investment management agreement, Ivy-related vehicles, and Global Atlantic-related capital markets fees.
Monetizations, embedded gains, and investment activity
Within the asset management segment, KKR reported realized performance income of $528 million (excluding the carried interest repayment obligation) and realized investment income of $27 million, which management said brought total monetization activity to more than $550 million. The quarter’s monetizations were driven by a mix of public secondary sales and strategic transactions, dividends and interest income, and the annual performance fee for Marshall Wace.
Management also emphasized record embedded gains across the firm. Total embedded gains—described as gross carry plus gains on the balance sheet across asset management and Strategic Holdings—were $19 billion as of Dec. 31, up 19% from a year earlier and up more than 50% compared to two years earlier.
On deployment, management said KKR invested $32 billion of capital in the quarter and $95 billion over full-year 2025, up 13% from 2024. The firm ended the year with $118 billion of dry powder and said deployment was driven by focus areas including Asia, infrastructure, and asset-based finance. Executives said Asia investment activity was up more than 70% versus 2024, and infrastructure investment totaled nearly $15 billion in 2025, a record for the firm, with over half outside the U.S. Management also said credit deployment totaled $44 billion in 2025, up 14%, including $19 billion invested by the asset-based finance (ABF) business.
Record fundraising and private wealth growth
KKR said fundraising was a “bright spot” in 2025. The firm raised $28 billion of new capital in the fourth quarter and $129 billion in full-year 2025, which management called the highest fundraising year in its history and nearly double the level from two years earlier. Credit fundraising reached a record $68 billion in 2025, which management said was driven by asset-based finance and the Insurance business.
Global Atlantic’s third-party capital fundraising was also discussed. KKR said it held the final close of the Ivy III sidecar vehicle in the quarter, bringing total capital raised to $4.5 billion. Combined with a $2 billion commitment from Japan Post Insurance discussed previously, management said third-party capital capacity is now approximately $6.5 billion. Once deployed, management said that capacity is expected to translate into more than $65 billion of fee-paying AUM over time.
In private equity and real assets, management said its North America Private Equity fund had surpassed $19 billion of committed capital in under a year since first close, and its Global Infrastructure fund had nearly $16 billion of commitments. The firm noted that flagship products represented only 14% of total 2025 fundraising.
In private wealth, KKR said its K-Series products raised $4.5 billion in Q4 and more than $16 billion in 2025—nearly double the 2024 level—with AUM across K-Series vehicles exceeding $35 billion (including activity closing Jan. 1), compared with $18 billion a year earlier. Management also discussed converting an existing vehicle into K-ABF, a product offering access to the ABF market for individual investors.
Arctos acquisition, new “KKR Solutions,” and outlook items
Executives used the call to discuss a strategic acquisition of Arctos, described as the leading investor in professional sports franchise stakes and a leader in GP solutions with approximately $15 billion of AUM. Management said the transaction is valued at $1.4 billion in equity and cash, with “much of the equity” subject to long-term vesting, plus the potential for up to $550 million of additional long-term vesting equity tied to KKR’s share price and Arctos operating performance targets. KKR said it expects the transaction to be accretive per share across key financial metrics immediately after closing, and later noted it expects the close in Q2.
In connection with the deal, KKR said it will create a new investing vertical called KKR Solutions that will include sports, GP solutions, and future secondary strategies. Management said it expects the business to reach $100+ billion of AUM over time. Executives also said their expectations for growth in the sports business are not predicated on changes to league rules governing ownership limits.
On other forward-looking items raised during Q&A:
- Monetization visibility: management cited “a little over $900 million” of visibility from signed or completed deals expected to generate monetization-related revenue, compared with about $400 million at the same point last year.
- Insurance earnings modeling: management reiterated that it views $250+ million per quarter as an appropriate operating-earnings modeling level over the next four quarters, while noting “accrued income” not reflected in cash accounting and estimating that accrued income could be $300 million-$350 million in 2026.
- Strategic Holdings: management reiterated it is tracking toward $350+ million of operating earnings in 2026 and said the business includes about 20 businesses where deleveraging is expected to drive higher free cash flow and dividends over time.
Finally, consistent with historical practice, KKR said it intends to increase its annual dividend to a range of $0.74 to $0.78 per share, effective alongside first-quarter 2026 earnings, which management said would mark the seventh consecutive annual dividend increase since the firm’s C-Corp conversion.
About KKR & Co. Inc. NYSE: KKR
KKR & Co Inc is a global investment firm headquartered in New York City that specializes in private markets and alternative asset management. Founded in 1976 by Jerome Kohlberg Jr., Henry Kravis and George R. Roberts, the firm built its reputation in leveraged buyouts and has since expanded into a multi-strategy asset manager. KKR operates across private equity, credit, real assets (including real estate and infrastructure), growth equity and hedge fund strategies, offering a range of investment products and strategies for institutional and private investors.
KKR manages capital through traditional closed-end funds as well as customized vehicles such as separate accounts, co-investments, and listed investment vehicles.
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