'I can do it in math': Wall Street's private credit giants try to calm AI fears amid steep software sell-off

Core Viewpoint - An aggressive sell-off in the stock market is driven by investor fears that AI will disrupt the software industry, affecting major money management firms on Wall Street [1] Company Insights - Blue Owl reported $300 billion in assets under management (AUM) for the first time, but its stock fell about 4% following quarterly results, leading to a total stock loss of 27% over the past month [3] - Blue Owl's exposure to software loans constitutes 8% of its total assets, with approximately half of its AUM in its private credit platform [4] - Co-CEO Marc Lipschultz emphasized that significant losses would require a drastic 70% devaluation of software companies, which is not supported by current market fundamentals [5] Industry Context - Ares Management, a competitor, reported that its investment exposure to the software industry is less than 9% of its total private credit assets, with AUM exceeding $600 billion, of which over $400 billion is in its credit platform [6] - UBS strategists highlighted that private credit loans face the highest default-rate risk compared to other credit market segments in scenarios of aggressive disruption [5]