KKR Earnings Rise on Fee Growth in Q3 2026
KKR earnings climbed in Q3 2026 as fee-related income and higher management fees lifted adjusted net income and AUM, boosting near-term fee durability.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Adjusted net income reached $1.6 billion, up 29.0% year over year.
- Fee-related earnings were $1.3 billion, reflecting higher management fees and fundraising.
- AUM totaled $804.4 billion, supporting durable fee revenue.
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KKR & Co. Inc. (KKR) reported higher earnings in the third quarter, announcing record adjusted net income and fee-related earnings on Nov. 9, 2026. The firm attributed the gains to increased management fees and strong fundraising, which bolstered its near-term outlook.
Record Third-Quarter Results
KKR’s adjusted net income for the quarter ended Sept. 30 rose 29.0% year over year to $1.6 billion, while fee-related earnings increased 27.0% to $1.3 billion. Total operating earnings climbed 25.0% to $1.7 billion. Adjusted net income per share reached $1.78, and total operating earnings per share were $1.88. Management reported fee-related earnings per share of $1.42.
On a U.S. GAAP basis, net income attributable to common stockholders was $1.1 billion, or $1.19 per diluted share, compared with $860 million, or $0.90, a year earlier. GAAP revenue declined to $4.6 billion from $5.5 billion, reflecting a drop in insurance-division revenue to $2.8 billion from $3.8 billion. This divergence highlights the firm’s shift toward fee-driven profitability despite lower headline revenue.
Fundraising and Outlook
Assets under management (AUM) totaled $804.4 billion as of Sept. 30, up 11.0% year over year. Fee-paying AUM also rose 11.0% to $647.9 billion. KKR raised $25.2 billion of organic new capital during the quarter and held $146 billion of unspent capital available for future investments.
Management fees reached $1.2 billion, increasing 16.0% year over year excluding catch-up fees, and were up 19.0% for the first nine months of 2026. Transaction and monitoring fees totaled $328 million, while capital-markets fees hit $290 million, marking the firm’s third-highest quarterly result in that category. Wealth-management activity contributed $3.0 billion in capital raised, with K-Series AUM growing 55.0% year over year to $45.0 billion. The firm also raised $14.0 billion for credit strategies, maintaining expectations for a record fundraising year in third-party and private credit.
Strategic holdings generated $192 million of operating earnings in the quarter and $277 million year to date, putting KKR on track to exceed $350 million for full-year 2026.
The results reflect a shift toward more stable, fee-based revenue as the main driver of profitability, even as GAAP revenue declined. Management cited higher management fees, expanded fundraising across strategies, wealth-management growth, private-credit momentum, and insurance-related activity as key contributors. This combination of recurring fees and large fee-paying AUM provides a buffer against fluctuations in realized investment income and supports more predictable near-term cash flows.
With its scale of AUM, strong capital inflows, and substantial dry powder, KKR has the resources to pursue investment opportunities while generating future management fees and related earnings. Management identified strategic holdings performance and credit fundraising as near-term catalysts for operating-earnings growth, reinforcing the outlook that fee durability and balance-sheet scale will drive results through year-end.
