Velarion · Company Intelligence
Compensation Brief
Fiscal year 2025 · Filings through 2026-08-21

Ares Management Corp (ARES)

CEO Michael Arougheti was paid $68,279,532 in fiscal year 2025, ↓ down 20.0% from fiscal year 2024, the 50th percentile of its disclosed peer group (SEC filing 0001628280-26-026286 ↗): executive and director compensation, incentive-plan design, equity activity, and governance — every figure in this brief is traceable to its exact location in the company’s SEC filing — the document, the section, the page, and the table, linked directly.

$71,930,731
R. Kipp deVeer total, FY2025
Director and Co-President — highest-paid officer; CEO Michael Arougheti: $68,279,532
50th
CEO (Michael Arougheti) pay percentile vs peers
346:1
CEO-to-median pay ratio
92.17%
Say-on-pay support, latest vote

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Sample answer — “What is the CEO’s total compensation?”
- Michael Arougheti (Director, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer), FY2025 total compensation $68,279,532 (base salary $0) [exec_comp, SEC accession 0001628280-26-026286, filed 2026-04-21]

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ARES's next annual pay disclosure, estimated April 26, 2027.est. Filing ↗

01

Summary Compensation Table — fiscal year 2025

Named executive officerSalaryBonusStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentivePension / NQDCAll otherTotal
R. Kipp deVeer$0$0$49,520,000$0$0$0$22,410,731$71,930,731
Director and Co-President
Michael Arougheti0049,520,00000018,759,53268,279,532
Director, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Blair Jacobson472,710033,673,60000015,671,93649,818,246
Co-President
Ryan Berry1,000,00007,923,2000002,888,40811,811,608
Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer
Jarrod Phillips750,000788,7507,966,478000288,4429,793,670
Chief Financial Officer
Naseem Sagati Aghili750,000788,7505,301,542000988,5477,828,839
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

A dash means the company reported no figure in that column; 0 means it reported zero. Figures are as printed in the filing, without adjustment.

Three-year trend — total compensation per named executive

Named executive officerFY2025 totalFY2024 totalFY2023 totalΔ FY2024→2025
R. Kipp deVeer$71,930,731$88,942,324$35,483,574↓ −17,011,593
Michael Arougheti68,279,53285,381,84230,576,590↓ −17,102,310
Blair Jacobson49,818,246———
Ryan Berry11,811,6086,619,813—↑ +5,191,795
Jarrod Phillips9,793,6709,412,5803,742,370↑ +381,090
Naseem Sagati Aghili7,828,839———

Prior-year totals as disclosed in the corresponding proxy; deltas are computed values with the derivation shown in the register.

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$71,930,731 R. Kipp deVeer total, FY2025

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Data as of August 21, 2026 · Source: 0001628280-26-026286 · Velarion Executive Compensation Database, deposited on Zenodo (doi:10.5281/zenodo.22283855).

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Companies that benchmark against ARES
6 companies name ARES as a compensation peer

Each company listed discloses ARES in its own benchmarking peer group, as disclosed in each company's most recent proxy statement within the last two proxy seasons. Two companies are therefore absent by design: one that named ARES in an earlier year and no longer does, and one whose own most recent disclosure is older than the last two seasons.

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01c

Board of directors

One page per director: the seat, the committees and the fee table, read for one person at a time.

DirectorRoleFY2025 total
Antoinette BushIndependent Director$416,393
Antony P. ResslerChair of the Board—
Ashish BhutaniIndependent Director$376,393
David B. KaplanDirector—
Dr. Judy D. OlianIndependent Director$416,393
Eileen NaughtonIndependent Director$376,393
Michael LyntonIndependent Director$476,393
Paul G. JoubertIndependent Director$416,393
02

Equity transactions since the proxy statement was filed

Every insider equity transaction reported on Form 4 after the 2025 proxy statement — acquisitions, dispositions, exercises, and withholdings — and therefore not reflected in any table in that document.

InsiderRoleTransaction dateCodeSharesPriceValueSecuritySource
Blair JacobsonCo-President2026-06-03D8,000$0$0CommonForm 4 ↗
R. Kipp deVeerDirector2026-06-30D82,9571119,233,944CommonForm 4 ↗
Michael J. AroughetiDirector2026-06-30D82,9571119,233,944CommonForm 4 ↗
Jarrod PhillipsChief Financial Officer2026-07-01D2,583114293,506CommonForm 4 ↗
Paul G. JoubertDirector2026-07-30A1,72800CommonForm 4 ↗
Michael LyntonDirector2026-07-30A1,72800CommonForm 4 ↗
Dr. Judy D. OlianDirector2026-07-30A1,72800CommonForm 4 ↗
Eileen NaughtonDirector2026-07-30A1,72800CommonForm 4 ↗
Ashish BhutaniDirector2026-07-30A1,72800CommonForm 4 ↗
Antoinette BushDirector2026-07-30A1,72800CommonForm 4 ↗
ARES MANAGEMENT LLCGreater-than-10% holder2026-08-13D23,000,00010235,750,000Common, indirectForm 4 ↗
Blair JacobsonCo-President2026-08-20D8,00000CommonForm 4 ↗

Transaction codes per Form 4: A acquisition · S open-market sale · F tax withholding · M option exercise · G gift. Value = shares × price as reported. Dividend-equivalent and fractional-share accrual rows (derivative Class A, under $10,000 and under 2,000 shares) are aggregated per date; every row appears in full below.

03

Grants of plan-based awards — fiscal year 2025

ExecutiveAwardGrant dateThresholdTargetGrantedMaximumGrant-date fair value
R. Kipp deVeerRSU2025-01-31——250,000—$49,520,000
Jarrod PhillipsRSU2025-01-31——20,000—1,483,200
Blair JacobsonRSU2025-01-31——170,000—33,673,600
Jarrod PhillipsRSU2025-01-31——50,000—6,112,500
Michael AroughetiRSU2025-01-31——250,000—49,520,000
Naseem Sagati AghiliRSU2025-01-20——1,827—349,542
Ryan BerryRSU2025-01-31——40,000—7,923,200
Jarrod PhillipsRSU2025-01-20——1,938—370,778
Naseem Sagati AghiliRSU2025-01-31——25,000—4,952,000
03b

Vehicle mix — grant-date fair value by award type

Named executive officerTime-vested (RSU)Performance-vested (PSU)Options / SARs% performance-vested
R. Kipp deVeer$49,520,000$0$00.0%
Jarrod Phillips7,966,478000.0%
Blair Jacobson33,673,600000.0%
Michael Arougheti49,520,000000.0%
Naseem Sagati Aghili5,301,542000.0%
Ryan Berry7,923,200000.0%

% performance-vested = PSU grant-date fair value ÷ (RSU + PSU + Options), a computed value with the derivation shown in the register.

04

Outstanding equity awards at fiscal year-end 2025

ExecutiveAwardShares unvestedExercise priceMarket value unvested
Naseem Sagati AghiliRSU155,098—$25,068,490
Blair JacobsonRSU426,312—68,904,809
Michael AroughetiRSU1,400,000—226,282,000
Jarrod PhillipsRSU180,407—29,159,184
Ryan BerryRSU168,706—27,267,951
Michael AroughetiRSU1,150,000—185,874,500
05

Incentive-plan design — the Compensation Discussion & Analysis

Our compensation philosophy has several primary objectives: (1) establish a clear relationship between performance and compensation, (2) align the interests of our NEOs and other key employees with those of our fund investors and stockholders to maximize value and (3) provide competitive incentive compensation opportunities, with an appropriate balance between short-term and long-term incentives.

CEO STI target (% of salary)—
CEO LTI target (% of salary)—
Independent consultantKorn Ferry
Clawback policyTrue
Anti-hedgingTrue
Anti-pledgingTrue
06

Say-on-pay — recent advisory votes

Meeting yearMeeting dateForAgainstAbstainSupportOutcome
20252025-06-06950,695,07180,721,996138,28192.17%Passed
20222022-06-09759,068,45672,245,052681,70391.31%Passed
20192019-05-20473,608,98228,447,969152,83694.33%Passed

Rows are labeled by annual-meeting year, with the meeting date beside each; the vote held in a given year acts on the prior fiscal year's compensation.

Say-on-pay — history, company's computation

Meeting yearMeeting dateApproval — company's computation
20252025-06-0692.17%a
20222022-06-0991.31%b
20192019-05-2094.33%c

a. Approved under the standard stated in the filing — “Abstentions and broker "non-votes" are not considered votes cast for the foregoing purpose and will have no effect on the vote for these Proposals.”.

b. Approved under the standard stated in the filing — “Abstentions and broker "non-votes" are not considered votes cast for the foregoing purpose and will have no effect on the vote for this Proposal.”.

c. Approved under the standard stated in the filing — “Abstentions and broker "non-votes" are not considered votes cast for the foregoing purpose and will have no effect on the vote for these Proposals.”.

Approval percentages are the company's own reported computations under its own stated standard, not recomputed by Velarion. Where a company does not state a standard, none is assumed.

07

CEO pay ratio

Ratio (CEO : median employee)346 : 1
CEO total compensation$68,279,532
Median employee compensation$197,440
08

Director compensation — fiscal year 2025

DirectorCash feesStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentiveAll otherTotal
Michael LyntonIndependent · Compensation (Chair) · Conflicts$142,500$218,893$0—$115,000$476,393
Dr. Judy D. OlianIndependent · Audit · Compensation · Conflicts · Nominating/Governance182,500218,8930—15,000416,393
Antoinette BushIndependent · Audit · Compensation · Conflicts · Nominating/Governance182,500218,8930—15,000416,393
Paul G. JoubertIndependent · Audit (Chair) · Compensation · Conflicts182,500218,8930—15,000416,393
Ashish BhutaniIndependent · Compensation · Conflicts142,500218,8930—15,000376,393
Eileen NaughtonIndependent · Compensation · Conflicts142,500218,8930—15,000376,393
Michael J AroughetiEmployee director · Nominating/Governance000—00
Bennett RosenthalEmployee director000—00
R. Kipp deVeerEmployee director000—00
Antony P. ResslerEmployee director · Board Chair · Nominating/Governance (Chair)000—00
David B. KaplanEmployee director000—00
09

Board fee structure and ownership guideline

Annual cash retainer$350,000
Annual equity retainer$218,893
Per board meeting fee—
Committee chair fees (audit / comp / nom-gov)40,000
Stock ownership guideline5x cash component of annual retainer
09b

Total cost of the board

ComponentFY2025
Cash retainers and fees$975,000
Equity awards (grant-date value)$1,313,358
All other compensation$190,000
Total cost of the board$2,478,358

Computed as the sum of the director compensation table rows above; inputs and formula shown in the register.

10b

Chief executive pay against the peer group

Most recent fiscal-year chief executive compensation at each disclosed peer, taken from that company's own proxy statement.

RankCompanyFYChief executiveSalaryStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentiveTotal
1Ares Management Corp2025Michael Arougheti$0$49,520,000$0$0$68,279,532

Each peer's compensation is from its most recently filed proxy; fiscal years differ by company. Each peer's figures come from its own filings; the subject company is highlighted. Peers whose chief executive compensation is outside our coverage universe are stated as such, never left blank.

10d

Frequently asked questions

Who was the highest-paid executive at Ares Management Corp in fiscal 2025?
As disclosed, R. Kipp deVeer (Director and Co-President) was the highest-paid executive at Ares Management Corp in fiscal 2025, with total compensation of $71,930,731.
How does Ares Management Corp's chief executive pay compare to its disclosed peer group?
As disclosed, Michael Arougheti's total compensation ranked at the 50th percentile of Ares Management Corp's disclosed peer group.
What is Ares Management Corp's CEO-to-median employee pay ratio?
As disclosed, Ares Management Corp's CEO-to-median employee pay ratio was 346:1.
How did shareholders vote on Ares Management Corp's executive compensation?
As disclosed, 92.17% of shareholders supported Ares Management Corp's executive compensation in the latest say-on-pay vote.
How much does Ares Management Corp spend in total on board compensation for fiscal 2025?
As disclosed, Ares Management Corp reported total board compensation of $2,478,358 for fiscal 2025.

Answers are drawn only from the figures disclosed in this brief and cited to their location in the source filing. Where a figure required for an answer is not disclosed, that is stated rather than estimated.

11

Source register

Each figure's location is given both for the eye (section · page · table · row · column) and for a script (table/row/column index and exact character span in the filed document). Any figure can be independently confirmed against the source.

#SupportsDocumentFiledAccessionLocation in document
1Section 01, R. Kipp deVeerDEF 14A2026-04-210001628280-26-026286Section “Summary Compensation Table for Fiscal Year 2025”. As printed: 71,930,731. Filing ↗machine: span 343678–343688
2Section 01, Michael AroughetiDEF 14A2026-04-210001628280-26-026286Section “Summary Compensation Table for Fiscal Year 2025”. As printed: 68,279,532. Filing ↗machine: t10 · r3 · c16 · span 335528–335538
3Section 01, Blair JacobsonDEF 14A2026-04-210001628280-26-026286Section “Summary Compensation Table for Fiscal Year 2025”. As printed: 49,818,246. Filing ↗machine: span 351567–351577
4Section 01, Ryan BerryDEF 14A2026-04-210001628280-26-026286Section “Summary Compensation Table for Fiscal Year 2025”. As printed: 11,811,608. Filing ↗machine: span 365809–365819
5Section 01, Jarrod PhillipsDEF 14A2026-04-210001628280-26-026286Section “Summary Compensation Table for Fiscal Year 2025”. As printed: 9,793,670. Filing ↗machine: span 354499–354508
6Section 01, Naseem Sagati AghiliDEF 14A2026-04-210001628280-26-026286Section “Summary Compensation Table for Fiscal Year 2025”. As printed: 7,828,839. Filing ↗machine: t10 · r13 · c16 · span 362742–362751
7Section 03, R. Kipp deVeer RSUDEF 14A1900-01-010001628280-26-026286Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 384422–384432
8Section 03, Jarrod Phillips RSUDEF 14A1900-01-010001628280-26-026286Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 390400–390409
9Section 03, Blair Jacobson RSUDEF 14A1900-01-010001628280-26-026286Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 387343–387353
10Section 03, Jarrod Phillips RSUDEF 14A1900-01-010001628280-26-026286Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 391757–391766
11Section 03, Michael Arougheti RSUDEF 14A1900-01-010001628280-26-026286Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 382033–382043
12Section 03, Naseem Sagati Aghili RSUDEF 14A1900-01-010001628280-26-026286Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 393295–393302
13Section 03, Ryan Berry RSUDEF 14A1900-01-010001628280-26-026286Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 396179–396188
14Section 03, Jarrod Phillips RSUDEF 14A1900-01-010001628280-26-026286Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 388877–388884
15Section 03, Naseem Sagati Aghili RSUDEF 14A1900-01-010001628280-26-026286Section “Executive Compensation” · grants of plan-based awards table. Filing ↗machine: span 394650–394659
16Section 07, pay ratioDEF 14A2026-04-210001628280-26-026286Section “CEO Pay Ratio”. As printed: 346 : 1. Filing ↗machine: span 649937–649940
17Section 08, Michael LyntonDEF 14A2026-04-210001628280-26-026286Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 476,393. Filing ↗machine: t24 · r5 · c10 · span 667994–668125
18Section 08, Dr. Judy D. OlianDEF 14A2026-04-210001628280-26-026286Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 416,393. Filing ↗machine: t24 · r6 · c11 · span 669936–670177
19Section 08, Antoinette BushDEF 14A2026-04-210001628280-26-026286Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 416,393. Filing ↗machine: t24 · r3 · c11 · span 663894–664135
20Section 08, Paul G. JoubertDEF 14A2026-04-210001628280-26-026286Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 416,393. Filing ↗machine: t24 · r2 · c11 · span 661791–662061
21Section 08, Ashish BhutaniDEF 14A2026-04-210001628280-26-026286Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 376,393. Filing ↗machine: t24 · r7 · c11 · span 671980–672221
22Section 08, Eileen NaughtonDEF 14A2026-04-210001628280-26-026286Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 376,393. Filing ↗machine: t24 · r4 · c11 · span 665940–666181
23Section 08, Michael J AroughetiDEF 14A2026-04-210001628280-26-026286Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. Filing ↗
24Section 08, Bennett RosenthalDEF 14A2026-04-210001628280-26-026286Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. Filing ↗
25Section 08, R. Kipp deVeerDEF 14A2026-04-210001628280-26-026286Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. Filing ↗
26Section 08, Antony P. ResslerDEF 14A2026-04-210001628280-26-026286Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. Filing ↗machine: t24 · r8 · c8 · span 673756–673757
27Section 08, David B. KaplanDEF 14A2026-04-210001628280-26-026286Section “Director Compensation”. As printed: 0. Filing ↗
28Section 02, Blair Jacobson 2026-06-03Form 42026-06-040001756898-26-000005Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
29Section 02, R. Kipp deVeer 2026-06-30Form 42026-07-020001576312-26-000004Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
30Section 02, Michael J. Arougheti 2026-06-30Form 42026-07-020001304471-26-000006Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
31Section 02, Jarrod Phillips 2026-07-01Form 42026-07-020001832049-26-000006Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
32Section 02, Paul G. Joubert 2026-07-30Form 42026-08-030001438584-26-000002Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
33Section 02, Michael Lynton 2026-07-30Form 42026-08-030001606115-26-000003Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
34Section 02, Dr. Judy D. Olian 2026-07-30Form 42026-08-030001605729-26-000015Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
35Section 02, Eileen Naughton 2026-07-30Form 42026-08-030001378072-26-000002Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
36Section 02, Ashish Bhutani 2026-07-30Form 42026-08-030001287727-26-000004Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
37Section 02, Antoinette Bush 2026-07-30Form 42026-08-030001209364-26-000002Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
38Section 02, ARES MANAGEMENT LLC 2026-08-13Form 42026-08-170001104659-26-097889Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
39Section 02, Blair Jacobson 2026-08-20Form 42026-08-210001756898-26-000007Insider equity transaction reported since the proxy statement. Filing ↗
40Section 06, 2025 voteForm 8-K2025-06-110001628280-25-030757Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 92.17% (votes for as printed: 950,695,071). Filing ↗
41Section 06, 2022 voteForm 8-K2022-06-100001628280-22-016868Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 91.31% (votes for as printed: 759,068,456). Filing ↗machine: span 51871–55186
42Section 06, 2019 voteForm 8-K2019-05-220001628280-19-007110Item 5.07 · say-on-pay result. As reported: 94.33%. Filing ↗
43Section 01 trend, Δ column (computed)Computed——Δ = current-FY total − prior-FY total per named officer.machine: formula: Δ = FY(n) − FY(n−1)
44Section 03b vehicle mix (computed)Computed——RSU / PSU / Options grant-date fair values summed per officer from the grants table; % performance-vested = PSU ÷ (RSU+PSU+Options).machine: formula: sums + PSU ratio
45Section 09b board cost (computed)Computed——Cash 975,000 + equity 1,313,358 + all other 190,000 = 2,478,358, summed across the director compensation table rows.machine: formula: Σ = 2,478,358
46Ares Management Corp (subject), Section 10b CEO totalDEF 14A2026-04-210001628280-26-026286CEO total compensation as printed in Ares Management Corp's own proxy. As printed: 68,279,532. Filing ↗machine: t10 · r3 · c16 · span 335528–335538

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