Jim Cramer has taken to X to say that private equity is “under attack again,” as some of the largest firms in the space, KKR & Co. (NYSE:KKR), Blackstone (NYSE:BX), Apollo Global (NYSE:APO), and Carlyle Group (NYSE:CG) stocks are all experiencing declines on Tuesday.
Private market stocks fell alongside the broader financial sector as surging Treasury yields weighed heavily on asset managers and alternative investment firms.
KKR & Co. stock is trading at $93.22, down 2.88% today, and 26% on the year. The company also announced that it is selling its entire stake in Kokusai Electric.
Rising bond yields and Middle East geopolitical uncertainty continue to cloud the deal-making and fundraising environment, according to Perplexity.ai's notable price movement data.
Blackstone also saw moderately lower trading activity today, as investors consider the company's latest announcement that it is working on a joint venture with Google that aims to bring 500 megawatts of TPU-powered data center capacity online by 2027. The stock is trading at $115.50, down 1.32% today, and remains down 21% on the year.
Meanwhile, shares of Apollo Global are declining modestly. The stock is trading at $131.79, down 1.7% today and down 8.4% for the year. Perplexity's analysis notes that the stock faces a confluence of headwinds, including the global bond selloff and geopolitical uncertainty.
Carlyle Group stock is trading at $45.84, down 1.63%. On Monday, the stock saw its worst single-day drop in recent weeks, falling nearly 3%, as the stock’s ex-dividend rate coincided with a broad risk-off session driven by rising oil prices and bond yields, Perplexity noted.
Carlyle's year-to-date decline is nearly 23%, "compounded by lingering fallout from Q1 earnings that missed estimates on both EPS ($0.89 vs. $0.91 expected) and revenue ($750.9M vs. $1.01B expected, down 28% YoY), earning it the weakest Q1 showing among alternative asset management peers,” Perpletixty wrote.
Cramer’s remarks come at a time of growing instability in the private credit market, where investors are increasingly wary of rising default risks, elevated interest rates, and the potential for AI-driven disruption across the software sector.
The veteran industry commentator and former hedge fund manager has also made past comments on the state of the private equity market, warning that firms may be forced to sell assets at less-than-ideal prices to stay ahead of a deepening crunch.
The ripple effects are being felt across private equity, where firms are finding it harder to exit investments as the seller’s market cools. At the same time, mounting pressure to return capital to investors is intensifying, with constrained credit conditions making it more difficult to finance new deals.
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