Blue Owl Capital reported $314.9 billion in assets under management for the first quarter, as of March 31, 2026, a 15% increase from the $273.3 billion it managed a year earlier. Fee-related earnings reached $393.6 million, up 14% year-over-year, on the strength of $11.0 billion in new capital commitments raised during the quarter. The results were released on April 30.
Blue Owl has grown from approximately $94 billion in AUM at the end of 2021 to $314.9 billion at the close of Q1 2026. Over the trailing twelve months, the firm raised approximately $57 billion in new capital, its second-largest LTM capital raise, reflecting investor interest across its client channels and across the Credit, Real Assets, and GP Strategic Capital platforms.
“Blue Owl’s results for the first quarter of 2026 demonstrate the power of our three differentiated and scaled platforms, each of which has contributed to our continued expansion to $315 billion of AUM. Our financial results reflect stability, stemming from our durable capital base, and growth, driven by fundraising and ongoing capital deployment,” said Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz, co-CEOs of Blue Owl.
“Performance remains strong across Credit, Real Assets, and GP Strategic Capital, and we believe that the current market landscape tends to favor firms with patient capital and longer duration, such as Blue Owl,” they said.
Three Platforms
Credit is the largest of Blue Owl’s three investment platforms at $159.2 billion, up 14% year-over-year. Real Assets reached $85.1 billion, a 27% increase and the fastest growth rate across the portfolio. GP Strategic Capital stood at $70.6 billion, up 5% year-over-year.
The Credit platform originated $6.8 billion of loans in direct lending during Q1 and $39.4 billion over the trailing twelve months. Blue Owl’s direct lending team has evaluated roughly 11,000 to 12,000 deals since inception and underwrites loans approximately 5% of the time.
As of Q1 2026, direct lending accounted for only 37% of firm AUM, as recent expansions into asset-based finance (ABF), real estate credit, and digital infrastructure via acquisitions have expanded the firm’s aperture. Blue Owl expanded into the structurally distinct ABF segment through its 2024 acquisition of Atalaya Capital Management’s alternative credit business. In asset-based finance, underwriting focuses on pool-level asset performance, where typical collateral includes equipment leases, consumer receivables, and small business loans.
Earnings
Fee-related earnings of $393.6 million, or $0.25 per share, carried a 58.4% FRE margin. Distributable earnings reached $292.5 million, or $0.19 per share, up 11% from Q1 2025. Over the trailing twelve months, FRE totaled $1,544.8 million, 18% higher than the prior period; distributable earnings over the same span were $1,339.1 million, up 16%. FRE management fees over the trailing twelve months reached $2,622.4 million.
GAAP net income of $15.5 million increased 109% year-over-year. For alternative asset managers, non-GAAP metrics (specifically FRE and distributable earnings) are the primary operating benchmarks investors track. The Q1 FRE margin of 58.4% held consistent with the firm’s trailing-twelve-month pace.
The firm declared a Q1 dividend of $0.23 per share, an annualized rate of $0.92. Blue Owl also repurchased approximately 1.7 million shares for $25 million during the quarter.
Capital Structure
Fee-paying AUM stood at $188.4 billion as of March 31, an 8% increase from a year earlier. Permanent capital reached $224.8 billion, up 15%. These vehicles carry defined lock-up periods or perpetual terms. Permanent capital accounted for 85% of fee-related earnings management fees as of quarter-end.
Blue Owl carried $29.9 billion in AUM not yet paying fees, capital already raised but awaiting deployment into income-generating investments. At $29.9 billion, this not-yet-paying segment equals approximately 16% of current fee-paying AUM. At current fee rates, deploying it would produce approximately $349 million in additional annual management fees.
Available liquidity was $1.3 billion. The blended cost of debt was 3.8%. Blue Owl holds investment-grade ratings from all three major agencies: BBB+ from Fitch, Baa2 from Moody’s, and BBB from S&P.
Fundraising Composition
Of the $9.0 billion in equity raised during the first quarter, institutional investors accounted for $6.1 billion, or two-thirds, and private wealth for $2.9 billion. The $16.5 billion from private wealth investors over the trailing 12 months includes capital raised through registered fund products and for closed-end drawdown funds through wealth management networks. Institutional fundraising over the same span totaled $27.8 billion, for a combined trailing-12-month equity total of $44.4 billion. Total new capital commitments over the trailing 12 months reached $56.6 billion.
Credit Platform Performance
At the platform level, Blue Owl’s direct lending business has reviewed more than 11,750 deals since inception and closed on roughly 5%, originating $195 billion in gross loans. The platform carries an annualized net realized loss ratio of 12 basis points, a weighted-average loan-to-value ratio of approximately 40%, average borrower revenue of about $1.1 billion, and average borrower EBITDA of $280 million.
