KKR Posts Record Q3 Fee Related Earnings of $1.3 Billion, Adds $500 Million to Buyback

KKR's fee related earnings rose 27.4% to a record $1.316 billion in the third quarter, or $1.42 per adjusted share, the investment firm said in its earnings release filed with an 8-K on Monday.

Adjusted net income, KKR's bottom-line non-GAAP measure, climbed 29.2% to $1.645 billion, or $1.78 per adjusted share, up from $1.41. KKR said its per-share fee related earnings, total operating earnings and adjusted net income were all records for the firm as a public company, on both a quarterly and trailing 12-month basis.

On a GAAP basis, net income attributable to common stockholders was $1.121 billion, or $1.19 per diluted share, compared with $860 million, or $0.90 per diluted share, a year earlier.

Total operating earnings, which KKR describes as the more durable and recurring part of its segment earnings, rose 24.6% to $1.738 billion, or $1.88 per adjusted share.

Fees drive the quarter

Management fees grew 12.9% to $1.201 billion, while fee related performance revenues jumped to $326 million from $73 million. Strategic holdings operating earnings rose to $192 million from $58 million.

Insurance operating earnings at Global Atlantic fell to $230 million from $305 million. KKR said the quarter included a $26 million charge tied to Global Atlantic's annual actuarial assumption review and related items, and that insurance operating earnings would have been $257 million without it.

Assets under management reached $804 billion and fee-paying assets under management $648 billion, each up 11% from a year earlier, the company said. KKR raised $25 billion of new capital in the quarter and invested $20 billion. Over the last 12 months it raised $116 billion and invested $98 billion.

On a trailing 12-month basis, fee related earnings reached $4.5 billion, or $4.96 per adjusted share, and total operating earnings reached $5.9 billion, or $6.46 per adjusted share, the company said.

KKR said it expects to return more than $40 billion to clients in 2026, "exceeding our previous annual record by more than 50%."

Buybacks and USI sale

From June 30 through Nov. 4, KKR spent $567 million to repurchase and retire 6.2 million shares at an average price of $92, and on Nov. 6 it approved a $500 million increase to its repurchase program. It declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.195 per share.

KKR also pointed to the pending sale of USI Insurance Services, its first Core Private Equity investment, which it expects to close in the fourth quarter. Subject to closing, KKR expects the sale to generate an estimated $2.0 billion of adjusted net income, or more than $2.00 per share, in its fourth-quarter results, the company said.

By the numbers

• Fee related earnings: $1.316 billion, up 27.4%
• Adjusted net income: $1.78 per adjusted share, up from $1.41
• GAAP diluted EPS: $1.19, up from $0.90
• Assets under management: $804 billion
• New capital raised: $25 billion
• Buyback increase: $500 million

Sources

1. KKR & Co. Form 8-K with Exhibit 99.1 third-quarter 2026 earnings release, filed Nov. 9, 2026 (accession 0001404912-26-000030)

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