Yes, some private equity firms are publicly traded. Blackstone, KKR, Apollo Global Management, The Carlyle Group, Ares Management, Blue Owl Capital, and TPG all list shares on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq, so anyone with a brokerage account can buy in. What trades is the management company — the business that raises money and collects fees. The private equity funds themselves, and the portfolio companies inside them, stay private.
Which Private Equity Firms You Can Buy on U.S. Exchanges
Seven of the best-known alternative asset managers trade on U.S. markets:
- Blackstone (BX), NYSE. One of the largest alternative asset managers in the world, active in private equity, real estate, credit, and hedge fund solutions.
- KKR (KKR), NYSE. A pioneer in leveraged buyouts that now runs a broad range of alternative strategies.
- Apollo Global Management (APO), NYSE. Manages over $900 billion in total assets, with heavy emphasis on credit alongside traditional private equity.
- The Carlyle Group (CG), Nasdaq. Focused on corporate private equity, real assets, and global credit.
- Ares Management (ARES), NYSE. Specializes in credit strategies, private equity, and real estate.
- Blue Owl Capital (OWL), NYSE. Concentrates on direct lending, GP capital solutions, and real estate.
- TPG Inc. (TPG), Nasdaq. Went public in 2022; runs funds across private equity, growth equity, and impact investing.
Blackstone, KKR, Apollo, and Ares have all been added to the S&P 500. Any index fund tracking that benchmark holds them automatically, which means millions of retirement savers already own a slice of the private equity industry without picking it out themselves.
What You Actually Own When You Buy the Stock
A share of Blackstone or KKR is a share in the management entity. That entity raises capital, makes investment decisions, and collects fees. It does not give you any claim on the assets inside the private equity funds themselves, which remain private vehicles open only to institutional investors and qualified individuals.
Your returns as a public shareholder come from three sources: management fees the firm charges on committed capital, performance fees (carried interest) when fund investments do well, and income from the firm’s own balance-sheet investments. The share price tracks the market’s view of fee-earning potential, total assets under management, and overall investment performance. It is not tied to the value of any single portfolio company.
Because these firms are now standard corporations, shareholders receive a Form 1099-DIV for dividends, the same as with any other stock. Before their conversions, public investors in these partnerships received a Schedule K-1, which made tax filing more complicated. Blackstone, for example, issued its final K-1s for the period ending July 1, 2019, and has reported on Form 1099-DIV since.1Blackstone. Tax Info / Dividends
Why These Firms Went Public
The shift to public C-corporation status followed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which permanently cut the federal corporate rate from 35 percent to a flat 21 percent.2Cornell University Legal Information Institute (LII). Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) With the corporate rate lower, the extra layer of taxation became a worthwhile trade for the benefits of being a regular corporation. KKR converted in 2018, Blackstone in 2019, and The Carlyle Group effective January 1, 2020.3The Carlyle Group. The Carlyle Group Announces Conversion to Full C-Corporation
The corporate structure also made these firms eligible for inclusion in the S&P 500, which only admits C-corporations. That brought a wave of passive investment demand, since every S&P 500 index fund had to buy shares. Going public also gives these firms access to permanent capital through stock and bond offerings, rather than relying only on fundraising cycles for individual funds with fixed lifespans.
Buying the Stock Is Not the Same as Investing in the Funds
If you buy Blackstone stock, you can sell it tomorrow. If you invest in a Blackstone private equity fund, you generally cannot. Private funds typically run about ten years, with a commitment period of three to five years during which no payouts or redemptions occur. Even after that window, money comes back only as investments mature or are sold. There is no exchange to sell your stake on.
There is also a wealth bar for direct fund investment that public shares avoid. Individuals investing directly in private equity funds must qualify as accredited investors. The SEC defines an accredited investor as someone who meets at least one of the following:4U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Accredited Investors
- Income above $200,000 individually (or $300,000 jointly with a spouse or partner) in each of the prior two years, with a reasonable expectation of the same in the current year.
- Net worth over $1 million, individually or jointly, excluding the value of a primary residence.
- Certain financial licenses in good standing — specifically the Series 7, Series 65, or Series 82.
Some of the most exclusive funds set an even higher bar. Under Section 3(c)(7) of the Investment Company Act, funds relying on the “qualified purchaser” exemption may only accept individuals with at least $5 million in investments (excluding a primary residence and business property), or institutions with at least $25 million under management. Those thresholds have not been adjusted for inflation.
Most of the capital in private equity funds comes from institutions anyway: pension funds, university endowments, insurance companies, and sovereign wealth funds. They commit a total dollar amount, and the General Partner draws it down over the investment period as deals materialize. Buying stock in the management firm sidesteps that entire structure. You get liquidity, standard tax forms, SEC disclosures, and no minimum wealth requirement. What you give up is direct exposure to the underlying deals. Your return depends on how successful the firm is at running the fund business, not on the performance of any specific fund you chose.
How the Firms’ Success Reaches Shareholders
Publicly traded management companies file annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, both publicly available, covering executive compensation, financial health, and material risks. Shareholders can vote on major corporate actions and trade shares on the open market at any time.
The private funds those firms run report only to their own Limited Partners under the terms of the partnership agreement. When those funds sell portfolio companies at a profit, the firm collects carried interest, which flows through to the management company’s earnings and, over time, into the stock price. That is the connection between the private side of the business and the public shares you can buy. You are not investing in the deals. You are investing in the firm that runs them.