AUM up 19% Q/Q, TPL surge, and a pivot to strategic engagement — the firm's new co-CEOs emphasize continuity after Murray Stahl's passing.
HKHC · Earnings Call · 2026-05-19
A Succession at the Helm
The tragic passing of Murray Stahl, co-founder and long-time steward of Horizon Kinetics, dominated the first-quarter call. Peter Doyle, now co-CEO, opened with a personal tribute:
Murray didn't just teach. He equipped me, Steve and the entire Horizon Kinetics family with mental toolkits for navigating not just investments, but life's complexities.
The leadership transition to Doyle and Steven Bregman as co-CEOs was framed as continuity rather than change. Bregman emphasized that the firm's "unique value-oriented eclectic investment style will live on," and that the new co-leaders have found "very little to change thus far."
Numbers That Moved
Financially, the quarter was robust. CFO Mark Herndon reported GAAP revenues of $18.3 million and net income attributable to shareholders of $72.5 million, or $3.89 per share. Assets under management grew from $9.6 billion to $11.4 billion, driven largely by a 65% appreciation in Texas Pacific Land Corp (TPL), a core holding. The company also recorded $18 million in performance incentive fees tied to expiring restrictions on client investments in MIAX. Herndon noted: “We believe these results illustrate the consistent earnings potential of our core asset management business.” — Mark Herndon, Chief Financial Officer · 2026-05-19
But the more strategic story is the shift Bregman articulated: “we are now replete both in account portfolios and on our own balance sheet and in our relationships outside of our 4 walls. We're replete with strategic investments as opposed to the traditional plain old investments.” — Steven Bregman, Investment Officer · 2026-05-19 This reflects a move from passive value hunting to active engagement with portfolio companies like TPL, MIAX, and LandBridge.
Strategic Deepening
The call underscored this engagement. Peter Doyle described the collaboration with Urbana Corporation, another exchange-focused firm, as a way to give shareholders access to private exchanges and clearing houses. He added: “the probability of an erosion of capital on a permanent basis is, in our opinion, very low.” — Peter Doyle, Chief Investment Officer · 2026-05-19 The tone is that the firm is now embedded in the industries it backs, rather than just owning their stocks.
This is a departure from the more passive, even dismissive, stance Murray Stahl took in prior quarters. On the November 2025 call, he warned about the energy demands of AI: “sometime in the not-too-distant future, the best guess is sometime in the year 2028, we're running out of electric power. And there's nothing anybody can do to stop it.” — Murray Stahl, Chief Executive Officer · 2025-11-19 That macro view now connects to the firm's direct stakes in data-center-adjacent infrastructure.
Riding the Themes
The AI data centers theme is clearly present in the global tape, and HKHC is a quiet but active participant through its holdings and relationships. The company's own balance sheet holds Bitcoin mined through its Consensus Mining effort, aligning with the broader crypto mining activity seen in other reporters like BTDR. Bregman's strategic investments comment resonates with the tape's advancers in high performance computing.
The call also reinforced the long-term, concentrated philosophy that Murray instilled. As Peter Doyle noted, the team is "on the right train" — a sentiment backed by the firm's debt-free balance sheet and increasing AUM.
Conclusion
HKHC is in transition, but the fundamentals remain unchanged. The new leadership is leaning into strategic engagement, a direction Murray had been building toward. The market will be watching whether the firm can sustain its momentum without its founder. For now, the call suggests it can.