it ain't investing that's made Brookfield special...for years, years, and more years. It is fees.

Joe and Bob got bored buying real estate and "real" assets and trying to manage living off of them. Joe and Bob set up a business on the side to manage things and sold off a percentage of them to others. And that people is all you need to know about Brookfield.

Yes Brookfield started off as principal investor first investing their own balance sheet in real assets. It's trauma, not boredom, that prompted the transition to the current model. I believe they got caught flat footed because they were over levered in a real estate recession in the nineties and were forced to sell assets at low prices and restructure their balance sheet.

After this they invited other people to invest with them, but it's more than just fees that makes this model special.

Of course fees and carried interest are very valuable. But another big reason to invite others is that it reduces your risk. In any given investment you have to commit much less of your own balance sheet capital. An even bigger reason is that it allows you to achieve scale which is a huge competitive advantage. If only a few others can cut such massive checks, that's your moat right there.