for The Wall Street Journal: A $433 Billion Wall Street Giant Has a Reputation Problem. It's Josh Harris's Job to Fix It. by José A. Alvarado Jr.

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for The Wall Street Journal: A $433 Billion Wall Street Giant Has a Reputation Problem. It's Josh Harris's Job to Fix It.

josé a. alvarado jr.

Nov 6, 2020

Location: Manhattan

Josh Harris, the co-founder of Apollo Global Management Inc., APO 2.38% obsessively weighs the risks and implications of decisions he makes: whom to hire for a role at the private-equity giant, whether to move forward with an investment or which trades to make to fill out the roster of the Philadelphia 76ers, the NBA team he co-owns. Former employees describe him as a micromanager who is known to call people numerous times in a day to discuss a small investment and spend an entire meeting rehashing unresolved questions from his previous one. Even Mr. Harris’s friends joke about sometimes getting multiple calls from him in a single day to discuss the same matter.

This approach has helped to make Apollo an investing giant with $433 billion in assets, second only in the private-equity world to Blackstone BX 4.55% Group Inc. In 2017, it raised a record-setting $24.7 billion buyout fund that has only been surpassed by a Blackstone vehicle. Its $300 billion credit business has nearly tripled over the past five years.

Photographed for The Wall Street Journal. Words by Miriam Gottfried.

A $433 Billion Wall Street Giant Has a Reputation Problem. ItâÂ€Â™s Josh HarrisâÂ€Â™s Job to Fix It.
Apollo Global Management is known for its cutthroat culture and sharp-elbowed approach to deal making. A co-founder is trying to change that just as Apollo is thrust into an unwelcome spotlight.

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José A. Alvarado Jr.

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