A Sparrow’s Exit: Blue Owl & the Shifting Winds

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It has come to my attention – and, frankly, a rather unsettling preoccupation – that Cortland Associates, a firm of some, shall we say, particular habits, has seen fit to lighten its holdings in Blue Owl Capital. Not a wholesale abandonment, mind you, but a pruning, a delicate shearing of 645,218 shares. A sum amounting to a paltry $10.09 million, a mere whisper in the grand scheme of capital, yet one that, to a discerning eye, speaks volumes. It is as if a sparrow, sensing a coming frost, has departed from the eaves.

The official pronouncements, of course, are couched in the dry language of SEC filings, dated January 28, 2026, detailing a reduction in position. But let us not be deceived by such sterile accounting. The true story, as always, lies beneath the surface, swirling in the murky depths of market sentiment. The quarter-end value, diminished by $13.64 million, is not merely a number; it is a symptom, a feverish flush upon the face of a troubled enterprise. A most peculiar fever, I might add, one that smells faintly of damp wool and forgotten promises.

It is crucial to understand, dear reader, that this is not a liquidation, not a complete flight from the coop. Blue Owl still occupies a modest 2.57% of Cortland’s considerable $792.13 million AUM. But consider this: Cortland’s top holdings – Google, WTW, Visa, KeyCorp, and Booking Holdings – are titans, monuments to modern commerce. They are the sturdy oaks of the financial forest. Blue Owl, by comparison, is a sapling, struggling for sunlight, and now, it seems, buffeted by a rather unpleasant breeze.

As of January 27, 2026, Blue Owl shares languished at $14.53, a precipitous fall of 40% over the past year. A performance that, shall we say, fails to inspire confidence. It has underperformed the S&P 500 by a staggering 56.0 percentage points. One begins to suspect that the market, in its infinite wisdom (or perhaps its capricious indifference), has lost patience with Blue Owl’s particular brand of alchemy.

A Brief Accounting

Metric Value
Revenue (TTM) $2.75 billion
Net income (TTM) $225.79 million
Dividend yield 6.20%
Price (as of market close January 27, 2026) $14.53

Blue Owl, you see, specializes in “permanent capital solutions” – a phrase that sounds suspiciously like a polite euphemism for locking up funds for an indefinite period. They offer direct lending, GP capital solutions, and real estate products, generating revenue from asset management fees and investment income. A perfectly respectable business, one might think, were it not for the growing chorus of whispers regarding missed earnings expectations and, more disturbingly, rising non-accruals – those ghostly specters of loans gone sour.

And then, of course, there are the lawsuits. Allegations of misleading investors who sought to withdraw their funds. A most unpleasant business, indeed. It conjures images of shadowy figures huddled in dimly lit rooms, exchanging furtive glances and whispering about broken promises. Such matters, naturally, introduce a degree of uncertainty. A volatility that makes predicting the stock’s short-term movements akin to forecasting the whims of a particularly capricious pigeon.

Cortland’s top holdings, as mentioned earlier, are titans of industry. They are built on solid foundations, on tangible assets. Blue Owl, by comparison, is a house of cards, delicately balanced on a foundation of complex financial instruments. And as any seasoned observer of the human condition knows, houses of cards are notoriously susceptible to the slightest breeze.

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2026-01-29 00:32