Research Brief — Compensation structures, carry mechanics, and benchmarks for General Partners at billion-dollar fund managers.
2024 disclosed compensation for top PE/alternative asset executives at publicly-traded firms.
Compensation benchmarks by seniority level. Carry assumes a 3x return fund over 10 years.
| Component | Founder / Managing GP | Senior Partner | Partner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Salary | $500K – $1M | $400K – $750K | $300K – $500K |
| Annual Bonus | $500K – $1.5M | $200K – $500K | $150K – $300K |
| Total Cash | $1M – $2.5M | $600K – $1.25M | $450K – $800K |
| Annual Carry (3x fund) | $16M – $20M/yr | $4M – $6M/yr | $2M – $4M/yr |
| Co-Invest Returns | $0 – $5M+ | $0 – $2M+ | $0 – $1M+ |
| Board Fees | $100K – $500K | $50K – $250K | $50K – $150K |
| Total (Good Fund) | $17M – $23M+ | $5M – $8M+ | $2.5M – $5M+ |
| Total (No Carry) | $1M – $3M | $650K – $1.5M | $500K – $950K |
How the management fee breaks down and where the money goes.
How carry distributions scale with fund performance. 20% carry pool, standard waterfall.
How the 20% carry pool splits among partners. Based on a $1B fund at 3x return ($400M carry pool).
Carry and fee structures from top-performing venture firms.
Key insights benchmarked against MAKR's $1B target fund.
2% on $1B funds entire operation — partner comp, investment team, office, travel & due diligence.
Founder/Managing GP base salary range. Even Schwarzman at Blackstone only takes $350K base.
20% of $2B in profits over fund life. Founder takes 40-50% = $160M-$200M over 10 years.
1-2% of fund size. Can be financed via management fee waiver — standard LP alignment mechanism.
of firms now use synthetic carry or phantom equity for talent retention beyond senior partners.
At $1B AUM, carry dwarfs salary 10-20x. Base salary is a rounding error on a performing fund.
Primary research sources for compensation data and fund economics.