Marc Rowan

Among other things, Apollo was a Greek god of the sun. Fittingly, Apollo Global Management’s light shone so brightly this past year we all needed some serious shades. 

The firm invested a record $222 billion in 2024 across strategies, according to its fourth-quarter earnings report — a 234 percent increase from the previous year. Further, it invested a sizzling $61 billion in the fourth quarter alone — its second-biggest quarter to date. On the direct lending side, it also had a record year, racking up $16 billion in originations and earning the No. 3 spot on Commercial Observer’s Power Finance list. 

The saying goes that everyone has the same amount of hours in the day as Beyoncé has, and surely several on this list wonder if Marc Rowan has a “pause” button somewhere to accomplish all that his firm has of late, with no slowdown in sight. Case in point: Apollo plans to manage $1 trillion of assets by 2026 and $1.5 trillion by 2029, according to Reuters. 

In February 2025, it was announced that the firm is in talks to lead a $35 billion financing package for Meta to develop U.S. data centers, with Apollo playing a major role in the financing. Also in  February, the company announced its $1.5 billion acquisition of Bridge Investment Group, which will grow its real estate assets under management by 40 percent to $110 billion and make Apollo one of real estate’s largest investment managers (Bridge’s stock price jumped 35 percent on the day the news was announced). And, this April, Apollo successfully offloaded Oldenburgische Landesbank AG, the German lender it backs, to a subsidiary of Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale in a deal valued at more than $1.9 billion, meaning Apollo will get a return of roughly 3.5 times its investment. Prost! 

It’s been three years since Apollo’s merger with insurer Athene, and the fruits of the partnership continue to bloom. Last year, Athene accounted for $71 billion of Apollo’s capital inflows (its asset management arm represented $81 billion). 

It’s not all hearts and roses, of course. Just last month, Apollo’s highly regarded chief economist Torsten Slok gave a presentation on the economic impacts of the tariffs laid out by President Donald Trump, predicting a recession will hit by the summer. And, when Apollo speaks, we all listen.