Blackstone NYSE: BX reported first-quarter 2026 results that management described as strong despite a volatile macro backdrop, highlighting higher earnings, record assets under management, and continued fundraising momentum across multiple channels.
Weston Tucker, head of shareholder relations, said GAAP net income for the quarter was $1.3 billion. Distributable Earnings were $1.8 billion, or $1.36 per common share, and the firm declared a dividend of $1.16 per share payable to holders of record as of May 4.
Earnings growth, fundraising strength, and record AUM
Chairman and CEO Stephen Schwarzman said Distributable Earnings increased 25% year-over-year to $1.8 billion, supported by 23% growth in Fee Related Earnings and a 26% increase in net realizations. Schwarzman also pointed to $69 billion of inflows in the quarter and nearly $250 billion over the past 12 months. Total assets under management rose 12% year-over-year to “more than $1.3 trillion,” which he called a record.
Schwarzman said most flagship strategies posted positive appreciation in the quarter “compared to declines in major equity and credit indices,” with infrastructure leading. He attributed the market environment to geopolitical turbulence including the war in Ukraine and “AI disruption fears,” and later referenced the conflict in the Middle East as a driver of oil-price volatility.
AI theme drives investment focus, especially infrastructure and data centers
Schwarzman emphasized Blackstone’s positioning around AI-related infrastructure, saying the firm believes it has become “the largest investor in AI-related infrastructure in the world.” He highlighted Blackstone’s data center footprint, including the 2021 privatization of QTS, and said the firm’s total portfolio consists of “over $150 billion of data centers globally,” including facilities under construction, with an additional “$160 billion in prospective pipeline development.”
He also said Blackstone recently filed to launch a new public company intended to acquire stabilized, newly constructed data centers. Beyond digital infrastructure, Schwarzman said the firm has invested heavily in the modernization of the U.S. electric grid and called Blackstone “the most active private investor in the utility sector over the past several years.” He added that the firm owns the “longest cross-country network of natural gas pipelines in the U.S.” and is a “major provider” of private credit to energy companies.
President and COO Jonathan Gray said the AI impact is “broad-based,” citing benefits to institutional and individual-investor infrastructure vehicles, real estate exposures (including data centers inside BREIT), and credit areas such as asset-based finance. In response to questions about AI-driven disruption, Gray acknowledged risks extend beyond software into “information services, professional services,” and the “broader white-collar world,” but said Blackstone’s software exposure is “less than 7%” of firm AUM and that the firm is working with portfolio companies to adapt.
Private credit: institutional demand vs. wealth-channel pressure at BCRED
Schwarzman said Blackstone has been navigating what he called an “intensely negative campaign against the private credit sector,” which he said has pressured wealth-channel flows into private credit, including BCRED. He argued that institutions and insurers remain supportive, noting they represent 75% of Blackstone’s credit platform AUM and “have continued to commit large-scale capital” despite the noise.
He also cited comments from U.S. regulators and industry leaders, saying the Treasury Secretary and leaders of the Federal Reserve and SEC “do not see systemic risk from private credit.” Schwarzman said Blackstone’s non-investment-grade private credit strategies have generated 9.4% net annual returns since inception nearly 20 years ago, which he said is roughly double leveraged loan market returns. He added that the firm expects defaults to move higher from “historic lows,” and said Blackstone designs funds with “low fund leverage,” “high current income generation,” and “meaningful reserves for future potential losses.”
Gray said Blackstone’s credit platform totals $536 billion of assets across corporate and real estate credit, up 15% year-over-year, with $40 billion of inflows in the first quarter. He also said the investment-grade private credit platform grew 23% year-over-year to about $130 billion, and that Blackstone’s model produced “nearly 180 basis points of excess spread” on credits placed or originated over the last 12 months for certain investment-grade-focused limited partners.
On the wealth side, Gray said BCRED gross sales were $1.9 billion in the quarter, but repurchases increased, resulting in net outflows of $1.4 billion. He said BCRED has generated 9.4% net annual returns since inception over five years ago for its largest share class and said year-to-date performance helped protect capital despite widening spreads and declines in public credit indices. Gray also said the portfolio carried a weighted average mark of 96.4, with the bottom 5% of loans marked below $0.70, and that borrowers reported low double-digit EBITDA growth over the most recent 12-month period while interest coverage improved to 2.2x over the past two years.
Responding to questions about redemption behavior, Gray said redeemers in these vehicles have tended to be a smaller number of larger investors, “double the size” of typical investors on average, rather than smaller investors. He also argued that redemption limits are a “feature” of the products, pointing to BREIT’s experience and emphasizing that disclosures are prominent.
Fee growth, performance, and outlook for realizations and IPOs
Vice Chairman and CFO Michael Chae said the firm delivered “20% plus” year-over-year growth across fee revenues, Fee Related Earnings, net realizations, and Distributable Earnings. Fee Related Earnings rose 23% to $1.5 billion, or $1.26 per share, while fee revenues increased 20% to $2.6 billion. Total management fees reached a record $2.1 billion, up 13% year-over-year, driven by base management fee growth in Private Equity (14%), Credit & Insurance (15%), and BXMA (21%). Chae said Real Estate base management fees declined moderately year-over-year due to harvesting in opportunistic funds and headwinds in the institutional core plus platform.
Chae also highlighted transaction and advisory fees nearly doubling to $212 million, and fee-related performance revenues of $488 million, up 66% year-over-year, driven by increases at BREIT and BXPE. Net realizations were $448 million, up 26% year-over-year, while gross performance revenues increased 70% to $780 million. Chae said principal investment income was lower year-over-year due to the prior-year sale of Blackstone’s internally developed Bistro software asset.
On realizations and market activity, Chae said recent volatility has “pushing out exit pipelines and slowing realization activity in the near term,” but added that if there is a “durable resolution” of the Middle East conflict, the firm would expect more robust activity in the second half of the year.
Asked about IPO prospects, Gray said Blackstone’s expected activity reflects its exposure to “AI beneficiary companies” such as electricity and digital infrastructure, as well as “AI unaffected companies” like Medline. He said areas likely to see less IPO activity include “professional services, information services, software.” Chae added that within the corporate private equity portion of Blackstone’s net accrued performance revenue receivable, “nearly a third is public,” which he said could aid monetization over time.
Chae detailed investment performance by segment in the quarter, including:
- Infrastructure: 7.8% appreciation in Q1 and 25% over the last 12 months.
- Corporate private equity: 3.2% appreciation in Q1 and 16% over the last 12 months, with gains partly offset by software-related declines tied to contracting multiples.
- Non-investment-grade private credit: 0.6% gross return in Q1 and 9% over the last 12 months.
- Real estate credit (non-investment grade): 2.3% appreciation in Q1 and over 14% over the last 12 months.
- BXMA absolute return composite: 1.7% gross return in Q1 and over 12% over the last 12 months, with positive returns for 24 consecutive quarters.
Chae said net accrued performance revenue on the balance sheet rose 9% year-over-year to $7 billion, equal to $5.69 per share, and performance-revenue-eligible AUM expanded to a record $635 billion, also up 9% year-over-year.
In private wealth, Gray said channel AUM increased 14% year-over-year to $310 billion, with $10 billion of total sales in Q1, including $7 billion into perpetual strategies. He said BREIT raised $1.2 billion, with repurchases down 41% year-over-year, contributing to net inflows in each of the past two months, and cited BREIT’s data center exposure at 23% as a contributor to differentiated performance. Gray also discussed a product pipeline that includes BXHF, described as a new perpetual multi-strategy product targeting more liquid exposures and leveraging BXMA capabilities.
During Q&A, Gray also addressed potential inclusion of alternatives in defined contribution plans, saying fiduciaries can already use private assets in 401(k)s and that proposed Department of Labor guidance could help create a safe-harbor framework, though he said adoption would take time.
About Blackstone NYSE: BX
Blackstone Inc NYSE: BX is a global investment firm focused on alternative asset management. Founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter G. Peterson and headquartered in New York City, the firm organizes and manages investment vehicles that acquire and operate businesses, real estate and credit investments, as well as provide hedge fund solutions and other alternative strategies for institutional and individual investors.
Blackstone's business is organized around several principal investment platforms.
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