Leon Black

Leon David Black (born July 31, 1951) is an American private equity investor. He is the former CEO of Apollo Global Management, which he co-founded in 1990 with Marc Rowan and Josh Harris. Black was the chairman of the Museum of Modern Art from 2018 to 2021.

Black’s fortune stems from shareholdings and earnings from Apollo Global Management, the private-equity firm he co-founded in 1990. Black owns 15% of the company’s common units directly and through trusts, according to June 2023 filings with the US Securities & Exchange Commission. It had $617 billion in assets under management at the end of June 2023, according to the company.

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According to the company’s prospectus filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Apollo distributed $2.7 billion in carried interest, capital gains, tax agreement payments and dividends to its owners in 2007 and 2008, of which about $1 billion is credited to Black. Apollo held private placements in 2007 and 2008 which raised about $2.1 billion, of which Black is credited with $900 million in proceeds.

Black has collected more than $2 billion from Apollo since the IPO, in the form of Apollo Operating Group distributions, tax benefit payments and profits on Apollo fund investments.

Taxes, market growth and outflows for asset purchases and charity are applied to cash balances.

A portion of Black’s income from the transactions has gone to amass an art collection valued at $1 billion, which includes Edvard Munch’s “The Scream.” The valuation is based on an interview with a person familiar with Black’s collection who asked not to be identified because the matter is private.

Black declined to comment on his net worth in January 2021.

Biography

Black is a son of Eli M. Black (1921–1975), a Jewish businessman who emigrated from Poland as a child (surname, “Blachowitz”) and was known for owning and being chairman of the United Brands Company. His mother, Shirley Lubell (sister of Tulsa oil executive Benedict I. Lubell) was an artist. In 1975, his father committed suicide, jumping out of a window in his 44th floor office in the Pan Am Building in New York City. It was later made public that, at the time, federal regulators were investigating allegations that United Brands was bribing Honduran government officials with Black’s authorization to gain a major reduction in banana export taxes paid by the company; United Brands contended that it was a victim of extortion in Honduras.

Black received an AB in philosophy and history from Dartmouth College in 1973 and a MBA from Harvard University in 1975. He served on the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College from 2002 to 2011. In 2012, Black gave US$48 million toward a new visual arts center at Dartmouth College.

After graduating from Dartmouth in 1973, Black enrolled in Harvard Business School, earning an MBA in 1975. Two years later, he took a job at Drexel Burnham, where he helped pioneer the leveraged buyout with Michael Milken. By using debt secured by the future cash flow of the target company, LBOs allowed Black to acquire companies for less up-front equity. Drexel declared bankruptcy in 1990, prompting Black to found his own private equity firm, Apollo Global Management.

In the 1990s, investments focused on buying distressed domestic U.S. firms, many of which Black had some exposure to while at Drexel. In more recent years, Apollo has expanded its geographic and investment scope — for instance, it runs funds in foreign real estate and collateralized loan obligations in Europe.

After Black’s wife, Debra, was diagnosed with melanoma in 2004, much of his philanthropic giving has gone to the New Melanoma Research Alliance. In addition to his donations to Dartmouth College, he has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on his art collection, including the 2012 purchase of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” for almost $120 million.

In 2019, Black was linked to disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. An investigation initiated by Apollo found that Black paid Epstein $158 million between 2012 and 2017 for tax advice, after Epstein pleaded guilty to felony charges in 2008. In March 2021, Black stepped down from his roles as chairman and chief executive officer of Apollo, and severed all day-to-day ties with the firm.

Career

Black started out as an accountant at Peat Marwick (which later became KPMG) and with the publisher Boardroom Reports. He also interviewed at Lehman Brothers but was told he did not have the brains or personality to succeed on Wall Street. From 1977 to 1990, Black was employed by investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert, where he rose to managing director and head of the Mergers & Acquisitions Group, and co-head of the Corporate Finance Department. At Drexel, Black was regarded as “junk bond king” Michael Milken‘s right-hand man.

In 2009, Black contributed $60 million in a settlement with Huntsman Corporation after Apollo was sued for backing out of a merger the previous year. In 2021, Black stepped down as CEO and chairman after Dechert LLP, which had been retained several months earlier by Apollo to investigate Black’s dealings with Jeffrey Epstein, published a report finding that Black had paid $158 million to Epstein between 2012 and 2017 for advice on taxes and estate planning. In 2022, Black included Josh Harris in a civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) lawsuit, alleging that he led a group within Apollo attempting to tarnish his reputation after his ties to Epstein were reported. Federal judge Paul Engelmayer dismissed the suit for lack of evidence, with an appeals court upholding the decision in 2023.