Apollo Global Management Inc. (APO) Business Profile

What it does

Apollo Global Management is an alternative asset manager and retirement services provider. It raises money from investors and manages it across credit and equity strategies, and it provides retirement savings products through Athene. Apollo was founded in 1990, its headquarters are at Solow Building, and Marc Rowan is its chief executive.

In asset management, Apollo invests through funds, managed accounts and other vehicles for institutions and individuals. Its credit business includes direct lending to companies and financing backed by assets such as mortgages, consumer credit and aircraft loans. Its equity business includes private equity, real estate and infrastructure investments. Apollo also helps businesses arrange financing and connects investment opportunities with capital from its clients.

Athene issues, reinsures and acquires retirement savings products. Its principal products are annuities and funding agreements. An annuity can provide a customer with interest or retirement payments under the terms of the contract. Apollo manages Athene’s investment portfolio, including assets intended to support its obligations to policyholders.

Apollo also has a Principal Investing segment, which includes performance fees and income from investments made with its own balance sheet. Apollo conducts its business primarily in the U.S., while its asset management team has offices throughout the world.

How it makes money

Apollo earns management fees for investing and overseeing clients’ money. The fee charged depends on the investment strategy, the assets’ liquidity and Apollo’s ability to generate returns. Fees are generally based on capital committed or invested, or on the net asset value of the funds it manages. Apollo also earns performance fees based on fund results and capital solutions fees for services such as arranging, structuring, syndicating and trading financing.

Asset Management had $938.4 billion of total assets under management as of December 31, 2025. In Q3 2026, its fee-related earnings were $802 million. Fee-related earnings are the segment’s fees after expenses; they are not the same measure as assets under management. In the quarter, management fees increased as a result of third-party fundraising, capital deployment and growth at Athene and Athora.

Through Athene, Retirement Services primarily earns a spread: the difference between income on investments supporting its obligations and the cost of those obligations. For annuities, those costs include interest credited to customers, options for indexed products, guarantees, and policy issuance, maintenance and distribution. Athene’s private placement variable annuities instead generate a fee based on the policyholder’s account value. Athene also earns spread income on group annuities by investing assets received when it assumes pension obligations.

Principal Investing includes realized performance fees and investment income from Apollo’s balance sheet, less certain corporate expenses. Its performance fees are cyclical, and Apollo pays a portion of those proceeds to employees, primarily investment professionals. Apollo describes earnings from this segment as more volatile than earnings from Asset Management and Retirement Services.

Some managed vehicles accept subscriptions and process redemptions under their governing documents, while closed-end funds generally call capital when investments are identified. Perpetual capital can be deployed on an ongoing basis, although it may be withdrawn in certain circumstances.

Customers and how it sells

Apollo raises capital from public and private pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and foundations, insurance companies, private wealth platforms, family offices, high net worth individuals and other institutional investors. Some publicly listed vehicles also bring in public-market investors. A significant portion of capital historically raised for closed-end strategies has come from existing investors.

Athene serves individuals seeking retirement savings and institutions, including pension plans transferring obligations through group annuities. Its products also reach defined contribution plans. Apollo’s asset management business manages investments for Athene and provides advisory services to Athora, which acquires or reinsures blocks of life insurance business in Europe.

Athene-related accounts are a named source of managed assets: Apollo managed or advised $392.2 billion of AUM in accounts owned by or related to Athene as of December 31, 2025. Apollo also managed or advised $57.2 billion of AUM in Athora Accounts at that date.

Apollo operates primarily in the U.S., with asset management offices throughout the world. Its real estate strategies include regionally focused funds in the U.S. and Asia, and its insurance activities are subject to regulation in multiple jurisdictions. Athene distributes annuities through a network in a market where carriers compete on distribution capabilities and customer service.

Suppliers and costs

Apollo’s business relies on investment professionals, origination channels, distribution and technology rather than manufacturing a physical product. Its investment teams source and evaluate opportunities, conduct due diligence, structure transactions and monitor investments. Apollo also uses affiliated origination platforms that make loans to third parties, alongside its own credit origination activities.

Employee compensation is a cost of investment management and Principal Investing. Apollo pays investment professionals a portion of performance fee proceeds, and its professionals may also invest their own capital alongside clients. In Q3 2026, fee-related expenses grew approximately 15% year-over-year, reflecting investment in the company’s growth priorities.

Athene’s cost of funds includes interest credited to customers, options for indexed products and the cost of guarantees, as well as policy issuance, maintenance and distribution costs. Higher funding costs on new business and the runoff of lower-cost liabilities offset some improvements in its net spread in Q3 2026.

Apollo plans roughly $350 million of expenses over the next 24 months to update technology and develop businesses around private-market services. It also plans to write off software and replace systems previously relied on.

Competitive position

Apollo competes for investor capital and for investments across credit and equity. The factors it identifies include investment performance, fees, service, reputation and the duration of investor relationships. Athene competes with insurers, reinsurers and diversified financial institutions for retirement assets, annuity customers, reinsurance business and acquisition opportunities. Pricing, financial strength, distribution and product features are among the competitive factors.

No company is named in the available material as a competitor. Ares Capital Corporation is named as the agreed buyer of an Apollo-managed business development company, but that transaction alone does not establish where it competes with Apollo.

Apollo’s origination activities supply investments for both outside clients and Athene. It also has relationships with existing investors and manages assets for its retirement business. Our reading: the combination of origination and a source of long-duration insurance capital is a meaningful competitive asset, though its strength depends on underwriting and on earning sufficient spreads. [item1, item1a]

Apollo’s perpetual capital and existing investor relationships provide channels for ongoing deployment and fundraising, although perpetual assets can be withdrawn in some circumstances. Our reading: these relationships and vehicles can support continuity, but they do not remove competition for capital or investments. [item1, item1a]

Apollo introduced estimated daily values across its credit business and plans further investment in data and systems. Our reading: these services could help Apollo reach investors accustomed to public-market infrastructure, but their ability to create a lasting advantage remains unproven. [call_prepared]

Growth opportunities

Apollo is seeking capital from institutional investors beyond traditional alternatives allocations, individuals, insurers, traditional asset managers and defined contribution plans. It raises and manages money through structures including closed-end funds, open-ended and evergreen vehicles, perpetual capital vehicles and separately managed accounts. These structures have different subscription, redemption and deployment requirements.

Apollo is also investing in services intended to make private assets easier to use in systems built for public markets. It introduced estimated daily values across its credit business and intends to work with partners on custody and settlement, starting with credit. Apollo plans to build businesses around data, trading and other private-market services as it updates its technology.

The company says AMAPS and its longer-term companion product APADS together reached $40 billion in a year. It also announced a minority investment in Mubadala Capital, subject to customary approvals, with commitments from Apollo and third-party investors across Mubadala Capital’s investment strategies.

For 2027, Apollo expects 20% plus fee-related earnings growth, supported by 15% plus management fee growth and growth in origination-led capital solutions fees. It also expects 10% spread-related earnings growth in 2027, assuming an 11% return on Athene’s alternatives portfolio. These are company expectations, not guarantees.

Structural risks

• Markets and investment performance: Political uncertainty, market volatility and economic conditions can adversely affect Apollo’s results. Some managed funds invest in businesses with weak finances or substantial capital needs, including companies undergoing restructurings or bankruptcy.
• Fundraising and variable fees: Apollo’s revenues, earnings and cash flow can vary. Funds may find it harder to raise capital as managers compete for a limited pool of qualified investors, while performance fees depend on investment results.
• Retirement spreads and liquidity: Athene relies on lending and debt markets for capital and liquidity. Changes in financing markets can affect access, and required insurance capital can rise during downturns. Higher funding costs and competitive pressures can also affect product economics.
• Insurance ratings and withdrawals: A financial strength rating downgrade could make products less competitive, raise capital costs and impair acquisitions or reinsurance. Increased policy lapses, surrenders or withdrawals could contribute to a mismatch between assets and liabilities.
• Regulation and conflicts: Apollo’s asset management and insurance businesses face extensive regulation. Noncompliance can lead to sanctions or restrictions, while failure to manage conflicts of interest could damage its reputation and business.

Bottom line

Our reading

Apollo combines an asset manager earning fees with a retirement business that earns investment spreads and a more cyclical principal investing operation. Its origination platform connects those businesses, while Athene supplies a substantial pool of managed assets. [item1, item7]

The model depends on raising and investing capital, maintaining insurance spreads and managing liquidity and regulatory demands. Apollo’s investment in private-market infrastructure may open additional services, but it adds costs before those opportunities are established. [item1a, call_prepared]