Blue Owl raised $56 billion in 2025 (including over $17 billion in Q4), crossed $300 billion+ of AUM, and saw outsized equity fundraising with $42 billion (up >50% YoY) including $25 billion of institutional equity (up 80% YoY).
The firm reported Q4 fee-related earnings (FRE) of $0.27 and distributable earnings (DE) of $0.24 (FY2025 FRE $0.96, DE $0.84), declared a Q4 dividend of $0.225, and set a 2026 fixed dividend of $0.92 (or $0.23 per quarter).
Management highlighted strong investment performance and credit health—net lease returns >13% and ORENT ~11% net (versus FTSE REIT +2.3%), alternative credit gross 16.6%, with low reported stress (BDC non-accruals ~0.1% and tech lending described as “pristine,” software loans ~8% of AUM).
Blue Owl Capital (NYSE:OWL) highlighted record fundraising, continued performance across its investment strategies, and a higher fixed dividend for 2026 during its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call.
The company reported fourth-quarter 2025 fee-related earnings (FRE) of $0.27 per share and distributable earnings (DE) of $0.24 per share. For the full year 2025, Blue Owl posted FRE of $0.96 per share and DE of $0.84 per share.
Blue Owl declared a fourth-quarter dividend of $0.225 per share, payable March 2 to shareholders of record as of Feb. 20. The firm also announced an annual fixed dividend of $0.92 for 2026, or $0.23 per quarter, beginning with first-quarter 2026 earnings.
Co-CEO Marc Lipschultz said Blue Owl experienced “significant growth” in 2025 with record fundraising across a more diversified set of strategies and geographies. The firm raised $56 billion of capital in 2025, including over $17 billion during the fourth quarter, and crossed $300 billion of AUM during the quarter.
Chief Financial Officer Alan Kirshenbaum added that fourth-quarter fundraising included $12 billion of equity. For the full year, Blue Owl reported:
Total capital raised: $56 billion (up 18% year-over-year)
Equity fundraising: $42 billion (up more than 50% year-over-year)
Institutional equity raised: $25 billion (up 80% year-over-year), about 60% of total equity raised
In private wealth, the firm raised about $5 billion of equity in the fourth quarter and over $17 billion for the full year, which management described as record levels. Lipschultz said Blue Owl is starting to see synergies from acquisitions made over the past 18 months, citing a $1.7 billion first close on the firm’s digital infrastructure evergreen product (ODIT) in the fourth quarter and an earlier $850 million close in 2025 for its alternative credit interval fund (LLCX). Management said LLCX reached $1.8 billion of AUM in three quarters.
Kirshenbaum also pointed to growth in AUM not yet paying fees, which increased to $28.4 billion, representing over $325 million of expected annual management fees once deployed. He framed that as about 13% embedded growth relative to 2025 management fees.
Management repeatedly emphasized that investment performance is the foundation for long-term growth and fundraising. Lipschultz said the firm’s net lease strategy generated gross returns of over 13% in 2025, while the ORENT product delivered an approximately 11% net return in 2025, which he said meaningfully outperformed the FTSE REIT Index total return of 2.3%. Lipschultz also said ORENT was the top net fundraiser in non-traded REITs in 2025, with inflows up 11% quarter-over-quarter and 55% year-over-year.
Additional strategy performance and activity discussed on the call included:
Net lease flagship funds: fully realized net IRR of 24% since inception (per management)
Digital Infrastructure Fund I:
Direct lending:
Continuously offered BDCs:
Alternative credit:
Kirshenbaum said weighted average loan-to-value (LTV) remained in the high-30s across direct lending and low-30s in the tech lending portfolios. He also said the average deal size for Blue Owl in 2025 was nearly $2 billion, up 23% from the prior year, and that about 60% of gross originations in 2025 came from existing borrower relationships.
In real assets, Kirshenbaum said the firm had called close to two-thirds of the capital for Net Lease Fund VI and expects it to be nearly fully deployed “within the next couple of quarters,” within three years of its final close. He also cited a pipeline of over $60 billion of net lease transaction volume under letter of intent or contract to close. In digital infrastructure, he said Blue Owl had called over 50% of the capital in Fund III, which held its final close in April 2025.
Management addressed investor questions about software and AI disruption, emphasizing that it did not see signs of deterioration in its tech lending portfolio. Lipschultz said the firm had “no red flags” and described the tech portfolio as “the most pristine” among its subsectors. He reiterated that the firm’s loans are typically around 30% LTV at the time of acquisition, with “huge equity cushions,” and said that since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, borrowers in the tech portfolio delivered nearly 40% cumulative weighted average revenue growth and nearly 50% cumulative weighted average EBITDA growth through September.
He added that in the fourth quarter, revenue growth in software names was 10% and EBITDA growth was in the mid-teens, and said Blue Owl did not see meaningful exposure to “more susceptible” areas of software. In response to a question on exposure, Lipschultz said software loans represent 8% of total AUM.
Kirshenbaum cited metrics for the firm’s publicly traded BDC (OTF) when discussing credit quality, including 0.1% non-accruals and an average weighted EBITDA of almost $300 million, along with portfolio composition details such as 94% sponsor-backed and 185 positions.
On private wealth flows, Lipschultz acknowledged that non-traded BDCs across the industry experienced a slowdown in capital raising and elevated redemptions during the fourth quarter. He said Blue Owl met all investor requests for tenders during the quarter “as we have every quarter since inception,” attributing the ability to do so to a focus on low leverage and liquidity. In a separate exchange about whether consistently meeting redemptions could change investor expectations, Lipschultz argued that fulfilling requests when liquidity permits is investor-friendly and can support quicker recoveries in flows.
Kirshenbaum said Blue Owl ended 2025 with FRE margins of 58.3%, slightly above its guidance range for the year, which he attributed to disciplined expense management. For 2026, the company is targeting approximately 58.5% FRE margin and said achieving that requires revenue growth to outpace expense growth.
Kirshenbaum also discussed several financial and capital allocation items:
On dividends, Kirshenbaum said the firm expects “modest dividend growth” while bringing its payout ratio down. He said payout ratios were around 107% to 108% for 2025 and that management aims over the next few years to move toward a general ballpark of 85%, though he noted it is not “hardwired.”
In closing remarks, Lipschultz said Blue Owl was entering 2026 with a favorable view, citing healthy portfolios and what management described as top-tier performance across its products.
Blue Owl Capital is a global alternative asset manager that focuses on private credit, direct lending and equity-related strategies for institutional investors. Headquartered in New York, the firm develops and manages a range of private markets products designed to provide capital solutions to middle-market and larger corporate borrowers, as well as liquidity and partnership arrangements with private equity firms and other alternative managers.
Its core activities include direct lending and credit strategies that provide senior, unitranche and other structured loan products to companies across industries.
