PE Portco Mgmt & Employee Compensation

I don't have a good feel for this, hoping some of the seasoned private equity professionals can chime in with insight.

Question -- In terms of % of the total B unit pool, what are some ballpark ranges that are custom for CEO, CFO, COO, SVPs, VPs, etc?

7 Comments
 

Suppose I'll shamelessly bump this up, not sure how to get more eyeballs (or maybe no one cares, which is fair).

 

Thanks for the reply, helpful.  So to gross those up to a kind of "% of mgmt pool" just multiply those by 10 I guess.

If it wasn't obvious I am trying to gauge where I am vs. market.

 
Most Helpful

Texas Tea, some thoughts:

The % allocation will depend a lot on the enterprise value of the company and the philosophy of the PE firm. We had option pools that ranged in size from 10% - 18% (assuming this is for North America). Generally at the beginning of the investment, the CEO would get 4-6% with the CFO getting 1-3%. The CFO could vary widely if the individual was a seasoned CFO with a full skill set versus a controller who was recently promoted to CFO and needed lots of help on things such as the banking arrangements.

Where you go from there depends on the organization. Typically we would rely on the CEO to make a recommendation to the compensation committee for the allocations, but we would guide the CEO on how to thing about it. People who reported directly to the CEO would typically get between 0.25% - 1.0% (where 1.0% might be the head of sales who attends board meetings in a sales-oriented organization). In some rare circumstances, we would do option grants another layer down for something like regional sales managers or divisional leaders, but those amounts could be as little as 0.1%.

Note: All percentages expressed as a percentage of the total equity value of the company.

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 

Esse suscipit error et. Illo hic voluptate suscipit fugiat perspiciatis. Eligendi adipisci animi sit aut ipsa neque veritatis est. Qui modi et aperiam magni neque. Dignissimos voluptatibus iusto et consequatur distinctio voluptatem fugiat.

Non quo autem recusandae doloribus. Quia et corporis sed reiciendis ipsa sed. Assumenda aut aperiam nihil qui. Earum fugit consequatur non occaecati et molestiae officia expedita. Sed cumque sequi voluptatem accusantium.

Id aut optio nesciunt iusto. At et est repellat porro in dicta. Quidem perspiciatis voluptatem qui maiores quia totam accusamus dicta. Cum ut perferendis maxime distinctio repudiandae beatae voluptas.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.6%
  • Blackstone Group 99.2%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 98.9%
  • Warburg Pincus 98.5%
  • Vista Equity Partners 98.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Private Equity

  • Blackstone Group 99.6%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 99.2%
  • The Riverside Company 98.9%
  • Ardian 98.5%
  • Warburg Pincus 98.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Private Equity

  • Bain Capital 99.6%
  • The Riverside Company 99.2%
  • Blackstone Group 98.9%
  • Starwood Capital Group 98.5%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 98.1%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Private Equity

  • Principal (9) $653
  • Director/MD (24) $547
  • Vice President (99) $363
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (105) $280
  • 2nd Year Associate (235) $272
  • 1st Year Associate (411) $231
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (33) $157
  • 2nd Year Analyst (97) $134
  • 1st Year Analyst (272) $124
  • Intern/Summer Associate (38) $81
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (355) $61
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”