Apollo Global Management’s Business Model Transformation

Apollo Global Management has transformed itself from a traditional private equity giant into an insurance-fueled credit powerhouse—thanks to its acquisition of life annuity issuer Athene. CEO Marc Rowan makes a bold bet that an asset-heavy model, which is backed by hundreds of billions in long-term insurance liabilities, can drive repeatable, superior returns and propel Apollo’s assets under management to $1.5 trillion. However, public markets award Apollo a multitude on its earnings that is far lower than asset-light peers like Blackstone, which highlights important trade-offs. Harvard Business School professor George Serafeim joins host Brian Kenny to discuss the questions raised by the case, Apollo Global Management, and explore what Apollo’s transformation reveals about business-model innovation and risk management in today’s rapidly evolving private markets ecosystem, and what it means to be a modern investment firm.

You can listen to Apollo Global Management’s Business Model Transformation online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Apollo Global Management’s Business Model Transformation is an episode from Cold Call by HBR Presents / Brian Kenny.

This episode is 29:16 long.

This episode was published on Nov 11, 2025.

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