Carried Interest (Carry)
The share of a PE fund’s profits (typically 20%) paid to the general partner as performance compensation, usually only after limited partners receive their capital back plus a preferred return (hurdle rate).
Why Carried Interest (Carry) matters in interviews
Carry is how private equity professionals actually get paid, and understanding the waterfall tells an interviewer that you know how the fund economics you would be joining work. It is also a standard question in any conversation about why you want the buyside.
How it works in practice
Carried interest is the general partner's share of fund profits, conventionally 20%, paid only after limited partners have received their capital back plus a preferred return (usually 8%).
The distribution waterfall runs in order: return of all LP capital; then the preferred return to LPs; then a GP catch-up so the GP receives its full 20% of profits to date; then an 80/20 split of everything beyond.
A worked case: a $1bn fund returns $2bn. LPs get $1bn of capital back plus the 8% preferred. Of the remaining profit, the GP takes roughly 20% — around $200m — split across the deal team by vintage and seniority. This is why carry, not salary, is the economic reason to be in private equity.
What candidates get wrong
- Forgetting the hurdle. No carry is earned below the preferred return.
- Not knowing what a clawback is: if early deals pay carry and later ones lose money, the GP must return the excess.
- Confusing deal-by-deal carry (American waterfall, paid per exit) with whole-fund carry (European waterfall, paid only after the whole fund clears). The distinction materially changes when a professional actually sees cash.
Carried Interest (Carry): frequently asked questions
How does carried interest work?
The general partner receives a share of fund profits, conventionally 20%, but only after limited partners have received all their invested capital back plus a preferred return of typically 8%. A catch-up provision then pays the GP until it has received its full percentage of profits, after which further profits split 80/20.
What is the difference between a European and an American waterfall?
A European (whole-fund) waterfall pays carry only after the entire fund has returned all capital and the preferred return, so the GP is paid late. An American (deal-by-deal) waterfall pays carry on each profitable exit as it happens, which pays the GP earlier and makes a clawback provision essential to protect LPs if later deals lose money.
Go deeper
This term comes up constantly in private equity interviews and on the desk.
Private Equity interview prepRelated Private Equity terms
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