GlossarySummary Compensation Table columns
Carried interest
Also called carry, partnership distributions.
A share of investment-fund profits often reported by alternative-asset managers in All Other Compensation, which can make “other” dominate the SCT total even when salary looks modest.
What it is
Carried interest (carry) is a share of investment profits paid to managers of funds—private equity, credit, real estate, hedge funds—typically after limited partners receive a preferred return. For executives of publicly listed alternative-asset managers, carry and related partnership distributions are often the dominant economic interest.
In the SCT, carry is commonly reported in All Other Compensation rather than as stock awards, because the instrument is a partnership allocation, not an ASC 718 RSU. The amount can be lumpy: a realization year is not a salary year.
Why companies use it
Carry is the traditional incentive in asset management: managers eat their own cooking and get a slice of gains. Public listing did not erase that structure.
Reporting it in Other follows how many issuers characterize distributions under Item 402, not a CompensationBase invention.
Pros
- Pays when funds actually realize profits, which can align with limited-partner outcomes better than a time-based RSU.
- Does not require the public company to issue public stock.
- Makes All Other Compensation a meaningful column instead of a perk bucket.
Cons
- SCT timing can be confusing: allocations, distributions, and vesting of carry points are not the same event.
- Comparing a PE-firm NEO’s Other column to a software CEO’s RSU column is not an apples-to-apples “equity” comparison.
- A realization year ranks at the top of a total-compensation list and may not repeat.
Examples
Other-dominant year
Salary $500,000, stock awards $4 million, All Other Compensation $40 million labeled as carried-interest distributions. CompensationBase may note that other compensation dominates. The $40 million is the story.
Not a Form 4 sale
Carry is not an open-market sale of the manager’s public shares. Mixing Form 4 proceeds with SCT carry would combine two different liquidity events.
On CompensationBase
Alternative-asset managers often report carry and partnership distributions in All Other Compensation. That is a common reason the Other column can dwarf salary.
Related terms
- All other compensation
The SCT catch-all column for perquisites, certain pension amounts, and items not put in salary, bonus, or equity. Alternative-asset managers often report carried interest and partnership distributions here.
- Salary
The cash base pay reported in the SCT Salary column. For some alternative-asset managers this amount is modest and similar across named executives, with most value in other compensation or equity.
- Unusual grant year
A CompensationBase flag when equity is at least 80% of reported total and at least three times the prior year’s total (with a $1M prior-year floor). It marks a likely multi-year or one-time grant, not an annual run-rate.