Good morning.
It’s been two and a half years since legendary investor Leon Black stepped down as CEO of Apollo Global Management, tarnished from his financial involvement with sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein. His successor Marc Rowan has adopted a noticeably lower and less-swashbuckling profile. While Black worked from a 42nd floor suite adorned with French antique handguns and Impressionist paintings, Rowan leads the firm from a spartan interior office whose only views are of the trading floor.
But don’t let that fool you. Rowan has turned Apollo into a money machine that is generating some of the fattest current returns in alternative asset management—with $2 billion in earnings in the first half of this year. Apollo’s share price has jumped 89% since he took the reins. And Rowan believes he will reach a trillion dollars of assets under management by 2026.
How does he do it? Fortune’s financial whiz Shawn Tully takes a deep dive into Apollo’s business, which is built on a smorgasbord of debt, and it’s this morning’s must-read. “I don’t think I’ve discovered fire,” Rowan tell Tully, with characteristic modesty. “I think we’re just logically looking at trends, and we’ve picked a really, really big market that’s got the best future in the world of credit.”
Interestingly, Black had tried on three separate earlier occasions to get Rowan to take the CEO job, and each time he refused. Rowan told Tully he didn’t want to run the firm as a triumvirate. “You can respect your partners but also realize three people can’t run a company. When we agreed on things, it was great. When we disagreed, it became deadlocked.” But after Black exited in 2021 and their third cofounder went off to focus on his sports teams, Rowan took the opportunity.
You can read Tully’s story here. Other news below, including Fortune’s coverage of Amazon’s big bet on AI.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
TOP NEWS
Amazon’s AI partner
Amazon will invest up to $4 billion into startup Anthropic as the e-commerce company tries to bolster its AI offerings. Amazon’s cloud customers will now get early access to some unique features from the AI developer. In February, Google invested $300 million into Anthropic, which says it focuses on AI safety more than competitors like OpenAI. Fortune
Exit bans
Beijing has reportedly slapped an exit ban on a senior investment banker for Japanese firm Nomura Holdings. The measure prevents Charles Wang Zhonghe, the chair of investment banking for China for Nomura's Hong Kong office, from leaving mainland China. Wang is supposedly linked to a probe into Bao Fan, the CEO of investment bank China Renaissance, whom Beijing mysteriously detained earlier this year. Financial Times
Ford pauses its plans
Ford Motor is pausing construction of its $3.5 billion battery plant in Michigan, citing a lack of confidence in its ability to “competitively run the plant.” The firm is currently negotiating with the United Auto Workers union, which started a strike against Ford, GM and Stellantis over a week ago. Ford’s plant will use technology from battery maker CATL, a decision which has drawn scrutiny from some in Congress who worry the deal is a way for the Chinese company to get access to U.S. tax credits. Detroit News
AROUND THE WATERCOOLER
Sen. Gillibrand wants her fellow Democrats to get on board with crypto legislation by Leo Schwartz
How many ‘vacant homes’ does China have right now? A former statistics official has an eye-opening prediction by Will Daniel
Wall Street’s most powerful woman has a message for Citigroup staff resisting the company’s overhaul: ‘Get on board or get off the train’ by Eleanor Pringle
Gen Z can’t work alongside people with different views because they ‘haven’t got the skills to disagree’ says British TV boss by Orianna Rosa Royle
Russia appears to have found a way to circumvent $60 barrel price cap sanction on crude oil exports by Christiaan Hetzner
Generative AI could be Europe’s shot at gaining a competitive edge against the U.S., Accenture’s AI chief for Europe says by Prarthana Prakash
This edition of CEO Daily was curated by Nicholas Gordon.
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