The three founders of the Carlyle Group collectively earned about $750 million in 2013, benefiting from a banner year for the private equity giant.
The earnings, a mix of investment profits, dividends and base salary, which were disclosed in a regulatory filing on Thursday, underscore the recent success of Carlyle, which took advantage of buoyant stock markets last year and reaped big gains from selling its investments.
David M. Rubenstein, Daniel A. D’Aniello and William E. Conway Jr., who founded Carlyle in 1987, each received $92.6 million in dividends on their partnership units for 2013, the filing showed. Each man earned base compensation, including 401(k) matching contributions, of $281,375.
But the largest portion of their income came from their investments in Carlyle’s funds. Mr. Rubenstein made $108.1 million from his investments, Mr. D’Aniello made $109.5 million and Mr. Conway made $252.8 million, the filing showed.
In addition, Carlyle paid about $1.1 million for the use of private airplanes owned by the three founders.
Carlyle, which is based in Washington, makes money by raising funds to buy companies, with the aim of eventually selling them at a profit. Investors in the funds include pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies and other institutions.
The firm’s employees also invest in and alongside these funds, and such commitments totaled $1.1 billion last year. As for the founders, Mr. Rubenstein invested $98.2 million in and alongside the funds, Mr. D’Aniello invested $110.6 million and Mr. Conway invested $207.4 million.
The rewards due to private equity founders tend to dwarf the compensation of the heads of big banks. Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, made $20 million last year, while Lloyd C. Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, likely made about $23 million.
Another private equity giant, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, reported this week that its co-founders Henry R. Kravis and George R. Roberts earned $161.4 million and $165.5 million, respectively, for 2013.
Earlier this month, Carlyle said its profit in the fourth quarter of last year, measured as economic net income before taxes, tripled to $576 million. The firm was helped when seven of its funds crossed a threshold for investment performance that allowed Carlyle to start collecting profit from them.
