diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
index f8da9fada002..159263d17c2d 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
@@ -765,6 +765,7 @@ int perf_evlist__open(struct perf_evlist *evlist, bool group)
 	list_for_each_entry_reverse(evsel, &evlist->entries, node)
 		perf_evsel__close(evsel, ncpus, nthreads);
 
+	errno = -err;
 	return err;
 }