Revenues of $149 Million, Down 30% from a Record First Quarter a Year Ago
GAAP Pre-Tax Loss of $(11) Million, Adjusted Pre-Tax Loss of $(3) Million
GAAP Diluted EPS of $0.02, Adjusted EPS of $0.05
Talent Investment
Year-To-Date Added Two Partners and Eleven Managing Directors with an Additional MD to Join
Gleacher Shacklock Acquisition to Add an Additional Five Partners and Three Managing Directors
Capital Management
Strong Balance Sheet with $78 Million of Cash and No Debt
Retired More Than Two Million Shares and Share Equivalents through Net Settlement
Returned $64 Million in Aggregate to Equity Holders
Declared Quarterly Dividend of $0.07 Per Share
"We continue to see momentum across our business, client dialogue remains exceptionally strong and our announced and pending backlog is at a two-year quarterly high. Our acquisition of Gleacher Shacklock adds meaningful presence in the UK, Europe's largest advisory market, and alongside our senior talent additions and the integration of Devon Park, we are more scaled and diversified geographically and by industry and product than at any point in our history. We remain focused on our clear and simple strategy to scale our business," stated Andrew Bednar, Chief Executive Officer.
NEW YORK, May 01, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Perella Weinberg Partners (the "Firm," "Perella Weinberg," or "PWP") (NASDAQ:PWP) today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026.
Revenues
For the three months ended March 31, 2026, revenues were $148.9 million, a decrease of 30% from a first quarter record of $211.8 million a year ago, driven by fewer fee paying clients and a decline in closings across both M&A and financing and capital solutions, partially offset by an increase in average fee per client.
Expenses
Three Months Ended March 31,
2026
2025
GAAP
Adjusted
GAAP
Adjusted
Operating expenses
(Dollars in Millions)
Total compensation and benefits
$
122.1
$
117.1
$
149.2
$
141.9
% of Revenues
82%
79%
70%
67%
Non-compensation expenses
$
39.8
$
37.4
$
50.9
$
49.3
% of Revenues
27%
25%
24%
23%
GAAP total compensation and benefits were $122.1 million for the first quarter of 2026, compared to $149.2 million for the first quarter of 2025. Adjusted total compensation and benefits were $117.1 million for the first quarter of 2026, compared to $141.9 million for the same period a year ago. The decrease was driven by a lower discretionary bonus accrual on lower revenues. Excluding the bonus decrease, compensation expense increased year-over-year due to higher cash compensation and equity amortization from investments in new hires and higher headcount. The higher compensation margin reflects the decline in revenues on an absolute dollar basis against a higher non-bonus compensation base, compounded by the timing of restricted stock units ("RSU") vesting from prior stock-based compensation awards, which is concentrated in the first quarter.
GAAP non-compensation expenses were $39.8 million for the first quarter of 2026, compared to $50.9 million for the first quarter of 2025. Adjusted non-compensation expenses were $37.4 million for the first quarter of 2026, compared to $49.3 million for the same period a year ago. The decrease in non-compensation expenses was largely driven by lower professional fees and a decrease in bad debt expense.
Provision for Income Taxes
As of March 31, 2026, Perella Weinberg Partners owned 76.3% of the operating partnership ("PWP OpCo") and is subject to U.S. federal and state corporate income tax on its allocable share of earnings. Income earned by PWP OpCo is subject to certain state, local, and foreign income taxes. The GAAP effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2026 was 93%, which included $6.6 million of tax benefit from RSUs that vested at a share price higher than the grant price.
For purposes of calculating adjusted if-converted net income, we present our results as if all partnership units had been converted to shares of Class A common stock and as if all of our adjusted results were subject to U.S. corporate income tax. For the three months ended March 31, 2026, adjusted if-converted net income included $7.4 million of tax benefit from the vesting of RSUs at a share price higher than the grant price. Excluding this benefit, the adjusted if-converted effective tax rate would have been 28%.Balance Sheet and Capital Management
As of March 31, 2026, we had $77.7 million of cash with no outstanding indebtedness and an undrawn revolving credit facility.
During the three months ended March 31, 2026, we returned $63.8 million in aggregate to our equity holders through: (i) the net settlement of 2,738,502 share equivalents at an average price per share of $20.14 and (ii) the payment of aggregate dividends of $8.6 million to Class A common stockholders.
At March 31, 2026, there were 70.6 million shares of Class A common stock and 21.9 million partnership units outstanding.
The Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.07 per share of Class A common stock. The dividend will be paid on June 15, 2026 to Class A common stockholders of record on June 1, 2026.
Conference Call and Webcast
Management will host a webcast and conference call on Friday, May 1, 2026 at 9:00 am ET to discuss Perella Weinberg's financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026.
A webcast of the conference call will be made available in the Investors section of Perella Weinberg's website at https://investors.pwpartners.com/.
The conference call can also be accessed by the following dial-in information:
Domestic: (800) 245-3047
International: (203) 518-9765
Conference ID: PWPQ126
Replay
A replay of the call will also be available two hours after the live call through May 8, 2026. To access the replay, dial (800) 839-6136 (Domestic) or (402) 220-2572 (International). The replay can also be accessed on the Investors section of the Company's website at https://investors.pwpartners.com/.
For those who listen to the rebroadcast of the call, we remind you that the remarks made are as of May 1, 2026, and have not been updated subsequent to the initial earnings call.
About Perella Weinberg
Perella Weinberg is a leading global independent advisory firm, providing strategic and financial advice to a broad client base, including corporations, financial sponsors, governments, and sovereign wealth funds. The Firm offers a wide range of advisory services to clients in some of the most active industry sectors and global markets. With approximately 700 employees, Perella Weinberg currently maintains offices in New York, London, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Paris, Chicago, Munich, Palm Beach, Denver, Calgary, and Greenwich. The financial information of Perella Weinberg herein refers to the business operations of PWP Holdings LP and Subsidiaries.
Contacts
For Perella Weinberg Investor Relations: [email protected]For Perella Weinberg Media: [email protected]
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
In addition to financial measures presented in accordance with GAAP, we monitor certain non-GAAP financial measures to manage our business, make planning decisions, evaluate our performance and allocate resources. We believe that these non-GAAP financial measures are key financial indicators of our business performance over the long term and provide useful information regarding whether cash provided by operating activities is sufficient to maintain and grow our business. We believe that the methodology for determining these non-GAAP financial measures can provide useful supplemental information to help investors better understand the economics of our platform.
These non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, the analysis of other GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures are not universally consistent calculations, limiting their usefulness as comparative measures. Other companies may calculate similarly titled financial measures differently. Additionally, these non-GAAP financial measures are not measurements of financial performance or liquidity under GAAP. In order to facilitate a clear understanding of our consolidated historical operating results, you should examine our non-GAAP financial measures in conjunction with our historical consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included elsewhere in this press release.
Management compensates for the inherent limitations associated with using these non-GAAP financial measures through disclosure of such limitations, presentation of our financial statements in accordance with GAAP and reconciliation of such non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. See "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" and the tables at the end of this release for an explanation of the adjustments and reconciliations to the comparable GAAP numbers.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements made in this press release, and oral statements made from time to time by representatives of PWP are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements regarding expectations for the business are "forward-looking statements." In addition, words such as "estimates," "projected," "expects," "estimated," "anticipates," "forecasts," "plans," "intends," "believes," "seeks," "may," "will," "would," "future," "propose," "target," "goal," "objective," "outlook" and variations of these words or similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or expressions) are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, conditions or results, and involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors, many of which are outside the control of the parties, that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Important factors, among others, that may affect actual results or outcomes include (but are not limited to): global economic, business and market conditions; the Company's dependence on and ability to retain employees; the Company's ability to successfully identify, recruit and develop talent; conditions impacting the corporate advisory industry; the Firm's dependence on its fee-paying clients and fluctuating revenues from its non-exclusive, engagement-by-engagement business model; the high volatility of the Company's revenues as a result of its reliance on advisory fees that are largely contingent on the completion of events which may be out of its control; the Company's ability to appropriately manage conflicts of interest and tax and other regulatory factors relevant to the Company's business, including actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest and other factors that may damage its business and reputation; the Company's successful formulation and execution of its business and growth strategies; substantial litigation risks in the financial services industry; cybersecurity and other operational risks; assumptions relating to the Company's operations, financial results, financial condition, business prospects, growth strategy and liquidity; extensive regulation of the corporate advisory industry and U.S. and foreign regulatory developments relating to, among other things, financial institutions and markets, government oversight, fiscal and tax policy and laws (including the treatment of carried interest); and other risks and uncertainties described under "Part I—Item 1A. Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K.
The forward-looking statements in this press release and oral statements made from time to time by representatives of PWP are based on current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on the Company. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting the Company will be those that the Company has anticipated. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those factors described in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on February 27, 2026 and the other documents filed by the Firm from time to time with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited)(Dollars in Thousands, Except Per Share Amounts)
Three Months EndedMarch 31,
2026
2025
Revenues
$
148,917
$
211,831
Expenses
Compensation and benefits
91,275
122,999
Equity-based compensation
30,785
26,245
Total compensation and benefits
122,060
149,244
Professional fees
7,912
19,196
Technology and infrastructure
9,980
9,289
Rent and occupancy
5,872
6,326
Travel and related expenses
5,928
5,644
General, administrative and other expenses
4,235
5,463
Depreciation and amortization
