ARES vs HOOD Comparison

Ares Management is one of the world's largest alternative-asset managers, with $671.3 billion in total assets under management, including $409.9 billion in fee-earning AUM, at the end of June 2026. The company has four main business segments: credit strategies ($440.5 billion in total AUM and $266.1 billion in fee-earning AUM), private equity ($24.5 billion/$13.9 billion), real estate/real assets ($151.2 billion/$88.6 billion), and other alternatives ($55.1 billion/$41.3 billion). The firm primarily serves institutional investors (80% of AUM) and high-net-worth individuals (20%). Ares operates through more than 35 offices in over 15 countries.

Robinhood is a diversified financial services provider best known for its retail brokerage platform, which historically caters to a young, risk-seeking clientele that trades heavily on margin and in higher-risk asset classes like options, futures, cryptocurrencies, and more recently, in prediction markets. As those customers' financial needs have begun to mature, Robinhood has rolled out a suite of more conventional products, from retirement accounts to high-yield cash sweep accounts to nascent advisory services (Robinhood Strategies). With $322 billion in customer assets and 27 million active accounts at year-end 2025, the firm has emerged as a significant player in the large, growing US brokerage market.