Ares Management (ARES) Economic Moat Analysis50

Evidence

The following table presents our summarized consolidated results of operations ($ in thousands): Year ended December 31, Favorable (Unfavorable) 2025 2024 $ Change % Change Total revenues $ 5,601,482 $ 3,884,781 $ 1,716,701 44% Total expenses (4,708,766) (2,938,691) (1,770,075) (60) Total other income, net 394,177 329,262 64,915 20 Less: Income tax expense 198,535 164,617 (33,918) (21) Net income 1,088,358 1,110,735 (22,377) (2) Less: Net income attributable to non-controlling interests in Consolidated Funds 253,904 295,772 (41,868) (14) Net income attributable to Ares Operating Group entities 834,454 814,963 19,491 2 Less: Net income attributable to redeemable interest in Ares Operating Group entities 1,349 103 1,246 NM Less: Net income attributable to non-controlling interests in Ares Operating Group entities 305,743 351,118 (45,375) (13) Net income attributable to Ares Management Corporation 527,362 463,742 63,620 14 Less: Series B mandatory convertible preferred stock dividends declared 101,250 22,781 78,469 NM Net income attributable to Ares Management Corporation Class A and non-voting common stockholders $ 426,112 $ 440,961 (14,849) (3) Year Ended December 31, 2025 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2024

2025 Form 10-K, consolidated results of operations · Filed 25/02/2026

Investing Activities Year ended December 31, 2025 2024 Purchase of furniture, equipment and leasehold improvements $ (72,178) $ (91,509) Acquisitions, net of cash acquired (1,731,461) (67,895) Net cash used in investing activities $ (1,803,639) $ (159,404) Net cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2025 was predominately cash used to complete the GCP Acquisition in the first quarter of 2025.

2025 Form 10-K, investing activities · Filed 25/02/2026

Typically, terminations do not require liquidation of assets so that SMAs will continue to pay fees until the underlying investments are liquidated.

2025 Form 10-K, SMA management-fee persistence · Filed 25/02/2026

14 Table of Contents 2025 Highlights Fundraising In 2025, we raised $113.2 billion in gross new capital commitments for more than 190 different investment vehicles.

2025 Form 10-K, fundraising highlights · Filed 25/02/2026

Direct Lending Liquid Credit European Direct Lending Opportunistic Credit Real Estate Infrastructure Alternative Credit APAC Credit Secondaries: $12.9 Private Equity: $2.3 Private Equity Secondaries Infrastructure Secondaries Corporate Private Equity APAC Private Equity Credit Secondaries Real Estate Secondaries 15 Table of Contents Other Businesses: $7.1 Insurance The chart below summarizes gross new capital raised from existing and new direct institutional investors for the year ended December 31, 2025: Existing - Same Product Existing - New Product New In 2025, 79% of our fundraising from direct institutional investors was from existing investors that either committed to a new product or committed to a subsequent fund vintage within the same product.

2025 Form 10-K, existing-investor fundraising · Filed 25/02/2026

Numerous factors increase our competitive risks, including, but not limited to: •a number of our competitors in some of our businesses have greater financial, technical, marketing and other resources and more personnel than we do; •some of our funds may not perform as well as competitors’ funds or other available investment products; •several of our competitors have raised significant amounts of capital, and many of them have similar investment objectives to ours, which may create additional competition for investment opportunities; •some of our competitors may have a lower cost of capital and access to funding sources that are not available to us, which may create competitive disadvantages for us with respect to our funds, particularly our funds that directly use leverage or rely on debt financing of their portfolio investments to generate superior investment returns; •some of our competitors may have higher risk tolerances, different risk assessments or lower return thresholds than us, which could allow them to consider a wider variety of investments and to bid more aggressively than us for investments that we want to make; •some of our competitors may be subject to less regulation and, accordingly, may have more flexibility to undertake and execute certain businesses or investments than we do and/or bear less compliance expense than we do; •some of our competitors may not have the same types of conflicts of interest as we do; •in order to broaden distribution of certain of their private wealth products, some of our competitors may be willing to pay higher placement, servicing or other forms of distributor fees; our unwillingness to pay such fees may adversely impact the amount of capital we or our funds are able to raise in the private wealth channel; 42 Table of Contents •some of our competitors may have more flexibility than us in raising certain types of funds under the investment management contracts they have negotiated with their investors; •some of our competitors may have better expertise or be regarded by investors as having better expertise or reputation in a specific asset class or geographic region than we do; •our competitors that are corporate buyers may be able to achieve synergistic cost savings in respect of an investment, which may provide them with a competitive advantage in bidding for an investment; •our competitors have instituted or may institute low cost high speed financial applications and services based on artificial intelligence and new competitors may enter the asset management space using new investment platforms based on artificial intelligence; and •other industry participants may, from time to time, seek to recruit our investment professionals and other employees away from us.

2025 Form 10-K, competitive risk factors · Filed 25/02/2026

Institutional investors have continued increasing pressure to reduce management and investment fees charged by external managers, whether through direct reductions, deferrals, rebates or other means.

2025 Form 10-K, institutional fee pressure · Filed 25/02/2026

and European Direct Lending(4) 0.75% - 1.50% Invested capital, NAV or total assets (in certain cases, excluding cash and cash equivalents) 5.5 years APAC Credit(5) 1.00% - 2.00% Capital commitments, aggregate cost basis of unrealized portfolio investments or a combination thereof 4.3 years Real Assets Group Real Estate(6) 0.45% - 1.50% Capital commitments, invested capital, GAV, NAV, aggregate cost basis of unrealized portfolio investments or a combination thereof 4.6 years Infrastructure(7) 0.75% - 1.50% Capital commitments, invested capital, GAV or NAV 6.3 years Secondaries Group Private Equity, Real Estate, Infrastructure and Credit Secondaries(8) 0.50% - 1.25% Capital commitments, invested capital, reported value (largely representing NAV of each fund’s underlying limited partnership interests), called capital plus unfunded commitments or reported value plus unfunded commitments 8.1 years Private Equity Group Corporate Private Equity(9) 1.50% Capital commitments 5.9 years APAC Private Equity(10) 1.00% - 2.00% Invested capital, capital commitments or a combination thereof 4.7 years Other Businesses Ares Insurance Solutions(11) 0.28% Monthly weighted average market value of assets N/A(11) (1) Represents the average remaining contract term pursuant to the funds’ governing documents within each strategy, excluding perpetual capital vehicles, as of December 31, 2025.

2025 Form 10-K, fee schedules and average remaining contract terms · Filed 25/02/2026

Although we have no obligation to modify any of our fees with respect to our existing funds, we may experience pressure to do so.

2025 Form 10-K, existing-fund fee obligations · Filed 25/02/2026

While clients of our customized separate account and advisory account businesses may have multi-year contracts, many of these contracts are terminable upon 30 to 90 days’ advance notice to us.

2025 Form 10-K, separate-account termination rights · Filed 25/02/2026

Isolated departures have occurred in the past but have not had a material impact on our business.

2025 Form 10-K, historical client departures · Filed 25/02/2026

open-ended industrial real estate fund that varies based upon a three-year measurement period calculated for each fund investor Realized investment income and interest income •Income of $20.1 million from our APAC real estate equity and real estate debt funds •Income of $3.5 million from US VIII, which is past its investment period and monetizing investments •Income of $15.6 million primarily from our real estate debt and infrastructure debt funds •Interest earned from loans that we made within our real estate debt strategy •Income of $1.2 million from the sale of an infrastructure opportunities fund’s investment in a wind energy company •Realized loss of $12.4 million associated with a guarantee of a credit facility provided in connection with a historical acquisition Interest expense increased over the comparative period primarily due to financing costs incurred in connection with the GCP Acquisition.

2025 Form 10-K, realized investment activity and acquisition financing costs · Filed 25/02/2026

As of December 31, 2025, we and our employees had more than $7.2 billion invested in or committed to Ares-managed vehicles, including $3.4 billion of capital commitments from Ares, $3.6 billion of capital commitments from our employee co-investment vehicles and $0.2 billion of employee investments in our publicly-traded funds and our perpetual wealth vehicles.

2025 Form 10-K, company and employee capital commitments · Filed 25/02/2026

Under the NYSE rules, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power for the election of directors is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect, and we have elected, and expect to continue to elect, not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements of the NYSE, including the requirement that the listed company have a nominating and corporate governance committee that is composed entirely of independent directors.

2025 Form 10-K, controlled-company governance exemptions · Filed 25/02/2026

As of June 30, 2026 Consolidated Company Entities Consolidated Funds Eliminations Consolidated Assets Cash and cash equivalents $ 557,094 $ — $ — $ 557,094 Investments (includes $4,141,111 of accrued carried interest) 7,333,193 — (1,786,938) 5,546,255 Due from affiliates 1,402,537 — (25,417) 1,377,120 Other assets 1,090,945 — (569) 1,090,376 Right-of-use operating lease assets 633,385 — — 633,385 Intangible assets, net 2,095,022 — — 2,095,022 Goodwill 3,464,289 — — 3,464,289 Assets of Consolidated Funds Cash and cash equivalents — 1,295,264 — 1,295,264 Investments, at fair value — 13,393,347 — 13,393,347 Due from affiliates — — — — Receivable for securities sold — 113,294 — 113,294 Other assets — 68,328 (2,375) 65,953 Total assets $ 16,576,465 $ 14,870,233 $ (1,815,299) $ 29,631,399 Liabilities Accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities $ 1,227,445 $ — $ (147) $ 1,227,298 Accrued compensation 635,157 — — 635,157 Due to affiliates 767,143 — (2,375) 764,768 Performance related compensation payable 3,122,566 — — 3,122,566 Debt obligations 4,577,159 — — 4,577,159 Operating lease liabilities 812,596 — — 812,596 Liabilities of Consolidated Funds Accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities — 125,923 (1,353) 124,570 Due to affiliates — 24,607 (24,607) — Payable for securities purchased — 256,519 — 256,519 CLO loan obligations, at fair value — 7,015,534 (63,877) 6,951,657 Fund borrowings — 2,531,196 — 2,531,196 Total liabilities 11,142,066 9,953,779 (92,359) 21,003,486 Commitments and contingencies Redeemable interest in Ares Operating Group entities 25,648 — — 25,648 Non-controlling interest in Consolidated Funds — 4,916,454 (1,589,793) 3,326,661 Non-controlling interest in Ares Operating Group entities 1,348,995 — (41,464) 1,307,531 Stockholders’ Equity Series B mandatory convertible preferred stock, $0.01 par value, 1,000,000,000 shares authorized (30,000,000 shares issued and outstanding) 1,460,030 — — 1,460,030 Class A common stock, $0.01 par value, 1,500,000,000 shares authorized (223,882,317 shares issued and outstanding) 2,239 — — 2,239 Non-voting common stock, $0.01 par value, 500,000,000 shares authorized (3,489,911 shares issued and outstanding) 35 — — 35 Class B common stock, $0.01 par value, 1,000 shares authorized (1,000 shares issued and outstanding) — — — — Class C common stock, $0.01 par value, 499,999,000 shares authorized (102,828,576 shares issued and outstanding) 1,028 — — 1,028

June 2026 Form 10-Q, company-entity and consolidated-fund balance-sheet separation · Filed 07/08/2026

Additional paid-in-capital 4,438,102 — (91,683) 4,346,419 Accumulated deficit (1,854,800) — — (1,854,800) Accumulated other comprehensive income, net of tax 13,122 — — 13,122 Total stockholders’ equity 4,059,756 — (91,683) 3,968,073 Total equity 5,408,751 4,916,454 (1,722,940) 8,602,265 Total liabilities, redeemable interest, non-controlling interests and equity $ 16,576,465 $ 14,870,233 $ (1,815,299) $ 29,631,399

June 2026 Form 10-Q, company-entity and consolidated equity · Filed 07/08/2026

The assets and liabilities of our Consolidated Funds are held within separate legal entities and, as a result, the liabilities of our Consolidated Funds are typically non-recourse to us.

June 2026 Form 10-Q, typically nonrecourse consolidated-fund liabilities · Filed 07/08/2026

The transfer of these financial interests does not subject us to the additional risk of loss; instead, our maximum risk of loss equals the value of our transferred interest in the event that the returns generated by the structured financing vehicles do not meet stated performance thresholds.

June 2026 Form 10-Q, transferred-interest maximum loss exposure · Filed 07/08/2026

Since the activities of GCP International contributed four months of results during the six months ended June 30, 2025, our year-over-year analysis of the six months ended June 30, 2026 will lack comparability.

June 2026 Form 10-Q, acquisition-related comparability limitation · Filed 07/08/2026

The following table presents our summarized consolidated results of operations ($ in thousands): Three months ended June 30, Favorable (Unfavorable) Six months ended June 30, Favorable (Unfavorable) 2026 2025 $ Change % Change 2026 2025 $ Change % Change Total revenues $ 1,428,610 $ 1,350,128 $ 78,482 6% $ 2,825,046 $ 2,438,933 $ 386,113 16% Total expenses (1,179,977) (1,137,578) (42,399) (4) (2,348,440) (2,151,906) (196,534) (9) Total other income, net 137,309 74,388 62,921 85 222,257 140,949 81,308 58 Less: Income tax expense 72,977 60,958 (12,019) (20) 132,849 78,495 (54,354) (69) Net income 312,965 225,980 86,985 38 566,014 349,481 216,533 62 Less: Net income attributable to non-controlling interests in Consolidated Funds 71,241 3,999 67,242 NM 100,888 59,976 40,912 68 Net income attributable to Ares Operating Group entities 241,724 221,981 19,743 9 465,126 289,505 175,621 61 Less: Net income (loss) attributable to redeemable interest in Ares Operating Group entities 1,845 (274) 2,119 NM 732 42 690 NM Less: Net income attributable to non-controlling interests in Ares Operating Group entities 89,244 85,193 4,051 5 171,170 105,231 65,939 63 Net income attributable to Ares Management Corporation 150,635 137,062 13,573 10 293,224 184,232 108,992 59 Less: Series B mandatory convertible preferred stock dividends declared 25,312 25,312 — — 50,625 50,625 — — Net income attributable to Ares Management Corporation Class A and non-voting common stockholders $ 125,323 $ 111,750 13,573 12 $ 242,599 $ 133,607 108,992 82 Three and Six Months Ended June 30, 2026 Compared to Three and Six Months Ended June 30, 2025

June 2026 Form 10-Q, consolidated and attributable earnings · Filed 07/08/2026

Within the Credit Group, our publicly-traded and our perpetual wealth funds contributed $29.4 million and $66.8 million of the increases in management fees for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026, respectively, compared to the same periods in 2025, primarily driven by increases in FPAUM associated with fundraising.

June 2026 Form 10-Q, fundraising-driven management-fee growth · Filed 07/08/2026

Within the Real Assets Group, funds that we manage as a result of the GCP Acquisition contributed $30.8 million of the increase in management fees for the six months ended June 30, 2026 compared to the same period in 2025, driven by fees generated for two additional months in the current year period.

June 2026 Form 10-Q, acquisition contribution to management fees · Filed 07/08/2026

As we are committed to invest alongside the investors in our funds, our capital commitments will increase with our growing assets under management and our investment related activities may fluctuate depending on timing of capital investments and distributions of each fund from year to year.

June 2026 Form 10-Q, growing company investment commitments · Filed 07/08/2026

Financing Activities Six months ended June 30, 2026 2025 Net borrowings of Credit Facility $ 235,000 $ 1,115,000 Borrowings from Term Loan 399,415 — Dividends and distributions (1,036,513) (873,259) Taxes paid related to net share settlement of equity awards (364,484) (416,609) Other financing activities 12,719 1,790 Net cash used in the Company’s financing activities $ (753,863) $ (173,078) As a result of generating higher fee related earnings, we increased the level of dividends paid to a growing shareholder base of Class A and non-voting common stockholders and distributions paid to AOG unitholders, representing net cash used for the six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025.

June 2026 Form 10-Q, actual corporate financing and distributions · Filed 07/08/2026

These proceeds were used primarily to support general operating needs in the current period and to fund the GCP Acquisition in the prior year period.

June 2026 Form 10-Q, use of credit-facility proceeds · Filed 07/08/2026

Net cash used in the Company’s financing activities for the six months ended June 30, 2026 also included borrowings under the Term Loan that were used to repay a portion of our Credit Facility during the first quarter of 2026.

June 2026 Form 10-Q, term-loan refinancing · Filed 07/08/2026

As a result, we may be restricted in our ability to transfer cash between different operating entities and jurisdictions.

June 2026 Form 10-Q, restrictions on interentity cash transfers · Filed 07/08/2026

As of June 30, 2026, we were required to maintain approximately $144.1 million in net assets within these subsidiaries to meet regulatory net capital and capital adequacy requirements.

June 2026 Form 10-Q, required subsidiary regulatory net assets · Filed 07/08/2026

We remain in compliance with these regulatory requirements.

June 2026 Form 10-Q, regulatory-capital compliance · Filed 07/08/2026

Equity compensation increased over the comparative periods as a result of newly issued discretionary and bonus-related awards granted during the first quarter of 2026 at higher stock prices relative to previously granted awards that have since fully vested.

June 2026 Form 10-Q, increased equity-compensation expense · Filed 07/08/2026

Perpetual capital may be withdrawn by investors under certain conditions, including through an election to redeem an investor’s fund investment or to terminate the investment management agreement, which in certain cases may be terminated on 30 days’ prior written notice.

June 2026 Form 10-Q, perpetual-capital withdrawal and termination rights · Filed 07/08/2026

In addition, the investment management or advisory agreements of certain of our publicly-traded funds and our perpetual wealth funds have one year terms, which are subject to annual renewal by such funds;

June 2026 Form 10-Q, annual advisory-agreement renewals · Filed 07/08/2026

The TRA liability balance was $622.0 million and $579.9 million as of June 30, 2026 and December 31, 2025, respectively.

June 2026 Form 10-Q, tax receivable agreement liability · Filed 07/08/2026

The chart below presents Real Assets Group management fees and effective management fee rates ($ in millions): 85 Table of Contents The following table presents the components of and causes for changes in the Real Assets Group’s management fees for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026 compared to the prior year ($ in millions): Three month change Six month change Fees from acquisitions: Fees from funds acquired in the GCP Acquisition, including catch-up fees from USLP IV $ (3.8) $ 30.8 Perpetual wealth funds: Base management fees from our open-ended core infrastructure fund; our diversified non-traded REIT; and our industrial non-traded REIT, driven by additional capital raised 17.4 30.5 Part I Fees from our open-ended core infrastructure fund, driven by an increase in net investment income from its growing portfolio of investments 7.3 13.3 Capital commitments to private commingled funds: Fees from US XI and EPEP IV, excluding catch-up fees 7.3 11.6 Catch-up fees from US XI in the first quarter of 2026 and from EPEP IV and ACIP II in the second quarter of 2025 (2.9) 1.7 Cumulative effect of other changes 1.4 4.9 Total $ 26.7 $ 92.8 The increases in effective management fee rates for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026 compared to the same periods in 2025 were primarily driven by additional capital raised and Part I Fees generated by our open-ended core infrastructure fund.

June 2026 Form 10-Q, Real Assets fee growth and effective-rate drivers · Filed 07/08/2026

These increases were partially offset by lower effective management fee rates from funds that we manage as a result of the GCP Acquisition.

June 2026 Form 10-Q, lower acquired-fund effective fee rates · Filed 07/08/2026

The maximum exposure for the contingent earnout arrangements was $351.7 million and $175.0 million as of June 30, 2026 and December 31, 2025, respectively.

June 2026 Form 10-Q, contingent acquisition earnout exposure · Filed 07/08/2026

For the six months ended June 30, 2026, 5.9 million restricted units vested and 3.3 million shares of Class A common stock were delivered to the holders.

June 2026 Form 10-Q, actual restricted-unit vesting and share delivery · Filed 07/08/2026

•Maintaining a majority independent Board; 20 •Adopting stock ownership guidelines for all independent directors to own shares, restricted shares, restricted units and shares underlying stock options (whether or not vested) valued at five times the cash component of the annual retainer for Board service to be received, subject to the terms of our stock ownership guidelines, to further align their interests with those of all stockholders;

April 2026 proxy, majority-independent board and director ownership guidelines · Filed 21/04/2026

As of the Record Date, there were 222,023,639 shares of our Class A common stock outstanding representing 222,023,639 votes, 1,000 shares of our Class B common stock outstanding representing 783,766,262 votes and 104,328,294 shares of our Class C common stock outstanding representing 104,328,294 votes for a total of 1,110,118,195 votes.

April 2026 proxy, record-date voting power by share class · Filed 21/04/2026

The following table presents the reconciliation of income before taxes as reported within the Consolidated Statements of Operations to RI and FRE of the reportable segments and OMG ($ in thousands): Year ended December 31, 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 Income before taxes $ 1,286,893 $ 1,275,352 $ 1,333,063 $ 510,806 $ 1,065,690 Adjustments: Depreciation and amortization expense 241,925 157,341 233,185 335,083 106,705 Equity compensation expense 740,549 352,851 255,419 198,948 237,191 Acquisition-related compensation expense(1) 105,202 38,150 7,334 206,252 66,893 Acquisition-related incentive fees(2) — — — — (47,873) Acquisition and merger-related expense 65,363 57,360 12,000 15,197 21,162 Placement fee adjustment (3,891) 5,715 (5,819) 2,088 78,883 Other (income) expense, net 303,200 (12,172) 976 1,874 (19,886) Income before taxes of non-controlling interests in consolidated subsidiaries (15,112) (22,267) (17,249) (357) (23,397) Income before taxes of non-controlling interests in Consolidated Funds, net of eliminations (260,032) (302,846) (278,119) (119,664) (120,457) Total performance income—unrealized (762,534) (109,533) (305,370) (106,978) (1,744,056) Total performance related compensation—unrealized 594,661 36,823 206,923 88,502 1,316,205 Total net investment income—unrealized (447,916) (9,654) (176,815) (724) (54,123) Realized Income 1,848,308 1,467,120 1,265,528 1,131,027 882,937 Total performance income—realized (526,284) (430,179) (415,899) (418,021) (474,427) Total performance related compensation—realized 357,273 281,301 282,406 274,541 328,583 Total investment (income) loss—realized 96,003 43,495 31,706 6,803 (24,785) Fee Related Earnings $ 1,775,300 $ 1,361,737 $ 1,163,741 $ 994,350 $ 712,308 (1)Represents bonus payments and earnouts resulting from various acquisitions that are recorded as compensation expense and are presented within compensation and benefits within the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Operations.

April 2026 proxy, five-year GAAP-to-RI and FRE reconciliation · Filed 21/04/2026

A-1 The following table presents the reconciliation of RI to after-tax RI per share of Class A and non-voting common stock: Year ended December 31, 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 After-tax Realized Income Realized Income before taxes $ 1,848,308 $ 1,467,120 $ 1,265,528 $ 1,131,027 $ 882,937 Entity level foreign, state and local taxes (49,841) (28,458) (28,606) (17,237) (14,435) Series A Preferred Stock dividends(1) — — — — (10,850) Realized Income 1,798,467 1,438,662 1,236,922 1,113,790 857,652 Corporate income taxes(2) (94,231) (90,839) (51,208) (52,043) (53,933) After-tax Realized Income $ 1,704,236 $ 1,347,823 $ 1,185,714 $ 1,061,747 $ 803,719 After-tax Realized Income per share $ 4.96 $ 4.15 $ 3.77 $ 3.46 $ 2.69 After-tax Realized Income per share of Class A and non-voting common stock Realized Income $ 1,798,467 $ 1,438,662 $ 1,236,922 $ 1,113,790 $ 857,652 x Average ownership % of Ares Operating Group 67.01 % 63.74 % 60.93 % 59.82 % 58.67 % Realized Income attributable to Class A and non-voting common stockholders $ 1,205,207 $ 916,978 $ 753,713 $ 666,253 $ 503,143 Corporate income taxes(2) (94,231) (90,839) (51,208) (52,043) (53,933) After-tax Realized Income attributable to Class A and non-voting common stockholders $ 1,110,976 $ 826,139 $ 702,505 $ 614,210 $ 449,210 After-tax Realized Income per share of Class A and non-voting common stock $ 4.76 $ 3.97 $ 3.65 $ 3.35 $ 2.57 (1)12,400,000 shares of 7% Series A Preferred Stock were redeemed on June 30, 2021.

April 2026 proxy, five-year attributable after-tax RI per share · Filed 21/04/2026

Payments related to carried interest and incentive fee participation are not made unless specified performance hurdles are achieved.

April 2026 proxy, performance hurdles for participation payments · Filed 21/04/2026

Our senior professionals (including our NEOs) who receive allocations of carried interest are personally subject to this contingent repayment obligation, pursuant to which they may be required to repay previous distributions.

April 2026 proxy, senior-professional carried-interest repayment obligations · Filed 21/04/2026

Generally, restricted units are scheduled to vest in four equal installments on each of the second, third, fourth and fifth anniversaries of the applicable grant date, subject to continued service through the applicable vesting date (subject to certain exceptions as described in greater detail below, under “Compensation of our Executive Officers—Potential Payments upon Termination or Change-in-Control”).

April 2026 proxy, restricted-unit service vesting and exceptions · Filed 21/04/2026

Independent Directors As part of the Company’s corporate governance practices, and in accordance with NYSE corporate governance listing requirements for a “controlled company”, the Board has established a policy requiring that the audit committee and conflicts committee be composed of entirely independent directors.

April 2026 proxy, independent audit and conflicts committees · Filed 21/04/2026

As a result, in certain circumstances, payments could be made under the tax receivable agreement in excess of our cash tax savings.

April 2026 proxy, possible TRA payments exceeding cash tax savings · Filed 21/04/2026

4 Three months ended June 30, Six months ended June 30, $ in thousands, except share data 2026 2025 2026 2025 Revenues Management fees $1,017,563 $900,622 $2,007,090 $1,717,609 Carried interest allocation 249,914 323,901 396,545 483,909 Incentive fees 42,753 23,079 204,687 55,127 Principal investment income 2,288 10,963 2,765 32,961 Administrative, transaction and other fees 116,092 91,563 213,959 149,327 Total revenues 1,428,610 1,350,128 2,825,046 2,438,933 Expenses Compensation and benefits 688,660 643,709 1,381,067 1,300,834 Performance related compensation 231,927 234,706 460,263 357,339 General, administrative and other expenses 255,715 232,156 496,152 460,070 Expenses of Consolidated Funds 3,675 27,007 10,958 33,663 Total expenses 1,179,977 1,137,578 2,348,440 2,151,906 Other income (expense) Net realized and unrealized gains on investments 72,710 12,708 76,099 12,976 Interest and dividend income 6,522 7,772 13,621 25,428 Interest expense (52,195) (43,575) (102,955) (79,962) Other income (expense), net (21,092) (46,521) 3,468 (57,235) Net realized and unrealized gains on investments of Consolidated Funds 176,396 127,752 310,412 216,158 Interest and other income of Consolidated Funds 59,123 161,890 164,568 321,962 Interest expense of Consolidated Funds (104,155) (145,638) (242,956) (298,378) Total other income, net 137,309 74,388 222,257 140,949 Income before taxes 385,942 286,938 698,863 427,976 Income tax expense 72,977 60,958 132,849 78,495 Net income 312,965 225,980 566,014 349,481 Less: Net income attributable to non-controlling interests in Consolidated Funds 71,241 3,999 100,888 59,976 Net income attributable to Ares Operating Group entities 241,724 221,981 465,126 289,505 Less: Net income (loss) attributable to redeemable interest in Ares Operating Group entities 1,845 (274) 732 42 Less: Net income attributable to non-controlling interests in Ares Operating Group entities 89,244 85,193 171,170 105,231 Net income attributable to Ares Management Corporation 150,635 137,062 293,224 184,232 Less: Series B mandatory convertible preferred stock dividends declared 25,312 25,312 50,625 50,625 Net income attributable to Ares Management Corporation Class A and non-voting common stockholders $125,323 $111,750 $242,599 $133,607 Net income per share of Class A and non-voting common stock Basic $0.49 $0.46 $0.95 $0.48 Diluted $0.49 $0.46 $0.95 $0.48 Weighted-average shares of Class A and non-voting common stock Basic 226,304,870 218,915,599 225,175,788 214,158,085 Diluted 226,304,870 218,915,599 225,175,788 214,158,085 GAAP Statements of Operations

July 2026 earnings presentation, GAAP earnings, interest expense and weighted-average shares · Filed 31/07/2026

5 RI and Other Measures Financial Summary Three months ended June 30, Six months ended June 30, $ in thousands, except share data (and as otherwise noted) 2026 2025 % Change 2026 2025 % Change Management fees1 $1,030,016 $900,285 14% $2,031,587 $1,718,661 18% Fee related performance revenues 40,529 16,697 143 60,085 44,748 34 Other fees 91,962 76,118 21 165,929 114,288 45 Compensation and benefits expenses (472,698) (421,472) (12) (921,345) (798,654) (15) General, administrative and other expenses2 (198,754) (162,517) (22) (380,797) (302,656) (26) Fee Related Earnings 491,055 409,111 20 955,459 776,387 23 Realized net performance income 50,903 16,483 209 126,239 57,515 119 Investment income—realized 28,683 12,240 134 40,463 23,935 69 Net interest expense (49,140) (40,020) (23) (97,924) (54,099) (81) Realized Income 521,501 397,814 31 1,024,237 803,738 27 After-tax Realized Income3 $467,569 $367,888 27 $919,985 $749,319 23 After-tax Realized Income per share of Class A and non-voting common stock4 $1.29 $1.03 25 $2.53 $2.12 19 Other Data Fee Related Earnings margin 42.2% 41.2% 42.3% 41.3% Effective management fee rate 0.97% 1.00% 0.97% 1.00% 1) Includes Part I Fees of $154.3 million and $128.1 million for Q2-26 and Q2-25, respectively, and $303.3 million and $248.2 million for YTD-26 and YTD-25, respectively.

July 2026 earnings presentation, FRE margins, effective fee rates and RI · Filed 31/07/2026

Fee Related Earnings Margin Fee Related Earnings Margin represents the quotient of fee related earnings and the sum of segment management fees, fee related performance revenues and other fees.

July 2026 earnings presentation, FRE margin definition · Filed 31/07/2026

RI differs from income before taxes by excluding: (i) operating results of our Consolidated Funds; (ii) depreciation and amortization expense; (iii) the effects of changes arising from corporate actions; and (iv) unrealized gains and losses related to carried interest, incentive fees and investment performance; and adjusting for certain other items that we believe are not indicative of our operating performance.

July 2026 earnings presentation, RI exclusions · Filed 31/07/2026

Changes arising from corporate actions include equity-based compensation expenses, the amortization of intangible assets, transaction costs associated with mergers, acquisitions and capital activities, underwriting costs and expenses incurred in connection with corporate reorganization.

July 2026 earnings presentation, corporate-action costs excluded from RI · Filed 31/07/2026

Publication history

Sources

• filing-1 · Filed 25/02/2026
• filing-2 · Filed 07/08/2026
• filing-3 · Filed 21/04/2026
• filing-6 · Filed 08/05/2026
• filing-8 · Filed 31/07/2026
• filing-7 · Filed 27/02/2025
• filing-4 · Filed 31/07/2026
• filing-9 · Filed 11/06/2026