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Apollo Global Management

NYSE: APO · USD

Apollo Global Management (APO) Economic Moat Analysis—

Avantages concurrentiels, preuves datées et risques d’érosion.

Analyse à actualiser

Narrow avantage concurrentiel

Apollo has a narrow moat supported by a substantial base of capital subject to withdrawal restrictions, integrated insurance investment services and an established investment track record. These advantages support persistent fee relationships, but do not establish broad pricing power or immunity from competition. Fee growth reflects assets, acquisitions and fee-basis changes; insurance funding costs show competitive pressure. Durability depends on investment performance, capital adequacy and continued investor demand.

Switching costs

Withdrawal restrictions in indefinite-duration vehicles create current switching friction across a material capital base: perpetual capital represented $535.6 billion of $938.4 billion AUM at year-end 2025. Apollo also provides investment management and operational support to Athene, supporting embedded service relationships. Affiliated assets are not independent evidence of customer preference.

Durabilité
Multi-year investment horizons and contractual withdrawal limitations support persistence beyond a single fundraising cycle. Perpetual capital is neither irrevocable nor guaranteed to remain with Apollo.
Concurrents
Comparaison non établie
Risques d’érosion
Service agreements can terminate, withdrawals remain possible and some insurance products have no surrender charges. Poor investment results, weaker ratings or liquidity pressure could erode the capital base and future fundraising.
Ce qui invaliderait la thèse
Sustained redemptions exceeding subscriptions, material termination of perpetual-vehicle mandates, or withdrawal-rule changes that materially shorten capital duration would undermine this advantage.
Preuves (5) · Contre-preuves (3)

Intangible assets

Apollo's accumulated investment expertise and distribution relationships support fundraising and origination. Reported traditional private-equity returns, organic inflows and capital-solutions activity provide operating evidence beyond management's differentiation claims. They support a limited franchise advantage, without proving superior performance across the predominantly credit-oriented business.

Durabilité
The investment record spans inception through 2025, while distribution reach and recent organic inflows demonstrate an operating franchise. Its persistence depends on retaining investment talent and delivering competitive outcomes.
Concurrents
Comparaison non établie
Risques d’érosion
Competition spans fundraising, investment sourcing and retirement products. Private-equity results do not establish credit superiority; Athene's alternative-investment performance lagged its disclosed incentive benchmark, and Atlas experienced an underlying asset impairment.
Ce qui invaliderait la thèse
Persistent benchmark-relative underperformance accompanied by declining organic fundraising or origination, lost distribution access, or material fee concessions needed to retain mandates would undermine the franchise advantage.
Preuves (4) · Contre-preuves (3)

Évolution depuis la dernière analyse

  • Changed the previous uncertain verdict to narrow: the quantified perpetual-capital base, contractual withdrawal restrictions and embedded Athene services establish a material current advantage when considered together with demonstrated fundraising and investment results.
  • Retained the prior conclusion that asset growth does not itself demonstrate fee-rate pricing power; explicitly incorporated adverse funding-cost outcomes and restricted contractual repricing.
  • Added assessments of actual compensation arrangements, board structure, dilution, repurchases and unresolved governance litigation.

Limites de l’analyse

  • All evidence comes from issuer filings. Historical operating results and contractual terms support assessments, while claims of differentiation and investment discipline remain issuer assertions.
  • Competition passages identify generic categories. The proxy names compensation peers, including Ares, BlackRock, Blackstone and KKR, but does not establish their competitive overlap or relative economics; competitor arrays therefore remain empty.
  • Private-equity inception returns lack supplied vintage-level, realization and benchmark detail and do not establish superiority across Apollo's larger credit business.
  • No comparable fee-rate series, mandate renewal rates, customer concentration analysis or distribution exclusivity terms are supplied. Retention is assessed from contractual friction and indirect operating evidence, without inferred retention percentages.
  • The supplied proxy establishes compensation and governance arrangements but does not provide complete executive beneficial-ownership quantities in the selected passages.
  • Filing dates retain dateKind filed. The August 10, 2026 filing includes a completed July conversion; earlier prospective conversion disclosures are not treated as the latest outcome.
  • Litigation allegations and denial of a dismissal motion do not establish misconduct. Generic risk factors are treated as possible erosion channels rather than realized failures.

Indicateurs financiers à confronter à la thèse

Ratios calculés à partir des publications annuelles. Une valeur manquante reste indisponible. Les graphiques détaillés sont accessibles dans les autres onglets.

Indicateurs financiers à confronter à la thèse
PériodeGross marginOperating marginROICFCF margin
2022————
2023————
2024————
2025————

Pouvoir de fixation des prix—

Données vérifiées insuffisantes pour attribuer un score.

Management—

Données vérifiées insuffisantes pour attribuer un score.

Sources et méthode

Analyse à actualiser · Mis à jour 19/10/2026 · Version 8

Interprétation IA fondée sur des extraits vérifiés. Les déclarations de l’entreprise et les limites de couverture restent explicites.

Méthode quality-scores-2 : six catégories de même poids. Le score global exige une couverture complète. Les données manquantes ne valent pas zéro. Les évaluations qualitatives sont des interprétations sourcées, pas des probabilités. 0/6 · 23/10/2026

Moat—

Awaiting a sourced assessment under the current scoring policy and financial basis.

Pouvoir de fixation des prix—

Awaiting a sourced assessment under the current scoring policy and financial basis.

Prévisibilité—

Five consecutive annual periods are required for predictability; the accepted history is incomplete.

Solidité financière—

Missing required inputs: debtFcfGrade, netDebtEbitGrade, currentRatioGrade. Equal-weight grades: debt/FCF (1–8x), net debt/earnings before interest and tax (0–5x), interest service (1–12x), current ratio (0.75–2x). Earnings use reported operating income, or reported pretax profit plus reported interest expense when operating income is unavailable. Interest service uses earnings/interest expense; if unavailable, it uses reported operating cash flow/cash interest paid, without relabeling cash paid as accrued expense. Nonpositive cash flow/earnings score 0 for their service component; reported zero interest with a positive numerator scores 100. Net cash scores 100 for net leverage. Missing disclosures remain unavailable. General nonfinancial-company rubric, not a credit rating; exceptional and nonoperating gains are not normalized out. IFRS finance-cost and cash-flow classifications retain their reported scope.

interestCoverageGrade
98.22

Allocation du capital—

Missing required inputs: operatingReturn, cashConversionGrade. Three-year equal-weight indicators: pretax return on average invested capital (0–25%; equity + debt − cash, each year and its prior year), share-count growth (0–5%, lower better), share-based cost/revenue (2–20%, lower better), consolidated FCF/net income (0–1x). Return uses reported operating income or, if unavailable, EBIT calculated from reported pretax profit plus reported interest expense; exceptional/nonoperating gains are not normalized out. Share-based cost uses the reported cash-flow add-back or, if absent, separately reported recognized compensation expense; the latter never becomes an FCF adjustment. Nonpositive net income scores 0 for cash conversion; absent income/FCF stays unavailable. Nonpositive invested capital has no defined return and remains unavailable. Does not establish acquisition quality or buyback timing.

3-year average dilution (%)
0.27
3-year average SBC / revenue (%)
2.79

Qualité du management—

Awaiting a sourced assessment under the current scoring policy and financial basis.

Preuves

Perpetual Capital Included within our investing strategies above is $535.6 billion of perpetual capital, out of the $938.4 billion of AUM as of December 31, 2025.

Business — Perpetual Capital · Dépôt 25/02/2026

Assets under management of certain vehicles with an indefinite duration, which assets may only be withdrawn under certain conditions or subject to certain limitations, including satisfying required hold periods or percentage limits on the amounts that may be redeemed over a particular period.

Definitions — perpetual capital withdrawal limitations · Dépôt 10/08/2026

Apollo’s asset management business, through its consolidated subsidiary, ISG, provides a full suite of services for Athene’s investment portfolio, including direct investment management, asset allocation, mergers and acquisitions asset diligence, and certain operational support services, including investment compliance, tax, legal and risk management support.

Business — services provided to Athene · Dépôt 25/02/2026

As of December 31, 2025, Apollo managed or advised $392.2 billion of AUM, of which $386.5 billion was Fee-Generating AUM, in accounts owned by or related to Athene (“Athene Accounts”).

Business — Athene Accounts and fee-generating assets · Dépôt 25/02/2026

The majority of the investment funds we manage are designed to invest capital over a period of several years from inception, thereby allowing us to seek to generate attractive long-term returns throughout economic cycles.

Business — investment fund duration · Dépôt 25/02/2026

The investment management, advisory or other service agreements with our perpetual capital vehicles may be terminated under certain circumstances.

Definitions — termination of perpetual capital service agreements · Dépôt 10/08/2026

Athene’s PPVA products provide access to a suite of Apollo managed funds and other product offerings with no surrender charges and no GLWB or GMDB features.

Business — PPVA product surrender terms · Dépôt 25/02/2026

•Net flows of $150.9 billion attributable to the funds we manage in our credit strategy primarily consisting of (i) $65.3 billion of inorganic inflows from Athora’s acquisition of PIC; (ii) $41.6 billion primarily due to a fee basis adjustment related to Redding Ridge; (iii) $23.5 billion of subscriptions primarily related to multi-credit and direct origination funds we manage; and (iv) $14.4 billion related to the growth of our retirement services client assets, partially offset by (i) $(12.3) billion of adjustments to inflows primarily driven by AMAPS; and (ii) $(4.2) billion of redemptions.

MD&A — six-month credit fee-generating AUM flows · Dépôt 10/08/2026

We have consistently produced attractive long-term investment returns in the traditional private equity funds we manage, generating a 39% gross IRR and a 24% net IRR on a compound annual basis from inception through December 31, 2025.

Business — traditional private-equity investment returns · Dépôt 25/02/2026

Athene has developed a suite of retirement savings products, distributed through its network of 41 independent marketing organizations (“IMOs”), 18 banks and 163 broker-dealers, collectively representing approximately 152,000 independent agents 20 Table of Contents in all 50 states.

Business — retail distribution network · Dépôt 25/02/2026

36 Table of Contents 2025 BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS Meaningful Progress on Our Three Strategic Growth Pillars Origination ➣ Origination volume totaled $309 billion in 2025 driven by significant contributions from core credit and origination platforms Global Wealth ➣ Raised a record $18 billion of capital during 2025 driven by sustained momentum in signature semi-liquid products and growing demand towards fixed income replacement-focused products Capital Solutions ➣ Record full-year capital solutions fees of $808 million demonstrates Apollo’s differentiated and flexible capital solutions at scale across a broad range of market conditions, geographies, and sectors Strategically Allocated Capital to Drive Stockholder Value Buybacks ➣ Repurchased approximately $1.4 billion of common stock in 2025, including $313 million of opportunistic share repurchases Dividends ➣ Distributed more than $1 billion of common stock dividends in 2025 Strong Execution Across Key Performance Indicators 2025 Result YoY Growth Asset Management Fee Related Earnings $2.5B 23% Retirement Services Spread Related Earnings $3.4B 4% Principal Investing Principal Investing Income $0.3B 25% Origination & Capital Formation Origination $309B 39% Total Organic Inflows $182B 20% Global Wealth Fundraising $18B 50% 37 Table of Contents Compensation Philosophy Our Compensation Philosophy Attract and retain outstanding professionals in a competitive market Align long-term interests of employees with stockholders and fund investors Encourage firmwide orientation and ownership mindset Link pay to long-term performance and fund outcomes Discourage excessive risk-taking and support sustainable value creation Our principal compensation philosophy is to align the long-term interests of our named executive officers and other key employees with those of our stockholders and the investors in the funds we manage.

Executive Compensation — 2025 business highlights and operating results · Dépôt 24/04/2026

Credit is our largest asset management strategy with $749.2 billion of AUM as of December 31, 2025.

Business — credit strategy AUM · Dépôt 25/02/2026

We also compete with financial institutions and other market participants in connection with acquisitions, investments, financings, originations, syndications and other strategic transactions, and competitive pressures in these areas may affect pricing, transaction terms, investment returns and our ability to deploy capital efficiently.

Competition — transaction pricing and deployment · Dépôt 25/02/2026

For the investment portfolio total return 46 Table of Contents performance objective based on AHL’s alternative investment performance, the Compensation Committee compared AHL’s results of 7.77% for the 33-month period ending September 30, 2025, to 15.80% for the 50-50 blended index described above, which pursuant to the formula resulted in no payout for this objective.

Executive Compensation — alternative-investment benchmark comparison · Dépôt 24/04/2026

The lower returns from origination platforms were mainly attributable to a valuation increase related to strong performance from Wheels in 2025, outsized performance from MidCap FinCo attributable to increased projections in 2025, strong performance from Redding Ridge related to greater issuance in 2025 and a valuation decrease on Atlas resulting from an underlying asset impairment in 2026, partially offset by favorable pricing that increased the valuation of an investment within Athene’s other origination platforms in 2026.

MD&A — origination platform returns and Atlas impairment · Dépôt 10/08/2026

Management fees increased by $354 million to $1,445 million in 2026 from $1,091 million in 2025.

MD&A — six-month GAAP management fee results · Dépôt 10/08/2026

The increase in management fees earned from Bridge funds was due to the Bridge acquisition, while the increase from Atlas was driven by higher fee-generating AUM due to an upsize in Atlas warehousing financing facilities.

MD&A — acquisition and fee-generating asset drivers of fee growth · Dépôt 10/08/2026

Cost of funds was $10.1 billion in 2025, an increase of $2.4 billion from $7.7 billion in 2024, primarily driven by significant growth in deferred annuity and funding agreement business, higher rates on new business and runoff of lower rate business compared to existing blocks, earlier origination of new business within the year compared to 2024, a shift in business mix to more institutional business at higher crediting rates and an unfavorable change in unlocking.

MD&A — realized cost-of-funds changes in 2025 · Dépôt 25/02/2026

A significant majority of Athene’s deferred annuity products have crediting rates that it may reset annually upon renewal, following the expiration of the current guaranteed period.

MD&A — deferred annuity annual crediting-rate reset rights · Dépôt 10/08/2026

While Athene has the contractual ability to lower these crediting rates to the guaranteed minimum levels at renewal, its willingness to do so may be limited by competitive pressures.

MD&A — competitive limitations on crediting-rate reductions · Dépôt 10/08/2026

Athene’s funding agreements and other investment-type contracts provide little to no discretionary ability to change the rates of interest that determine the amounts payable to the respective policyholder or institution.

MD&A — limited rate discretion on investment-type contracts · Dépôt 10/08/2026

Three months ended June 30, Total Change Percentage Change Six months ended June 30, Total Change Percentage Change (In millions, except percentages) 2026 2025 2026 2025 Asset Management Management fees – Credit $ 722 $ 605 $ 117 19.3% $ 1,403 $ 1,174 $ 229 19.5% Management fees – Equity 279 211 68 32.2 550 412 138 33.5 Management fees 1,001 816 185 22.7 1,953 1,586 367 23.1 Capital solutions fees and other, net 277 216 61 28.2 523 370 153 41.4 Fee-related performance fees 65 63 2 3.2 129 117 12 10.3 Fee-related compensation (343) (279) 64 22.9 (676) (538) 138 25.7 Non-compensation expenses (215) (189) 26 13.8 (416) (349) 67 19.2 Fee Related Earnings $ 785 $ 627 $ 158 25.2% $ 1,513 $ 1,186 $ 327 27.6% Three Months Ended June 30, 2026 Compared to the Three Months Ended June 30, 2025 In this section, references to 2026 refer to the three months ended June 30, 2026 and references to 2025 refer to the three months ended June 30, 2025.

Segment Analysis — fee revenues, expenses and Fee Related Earnings · Dépôt 10/08/2026

FRE is the sum of (i) management fees, (ii) capital solutions and other related fees, (iii) fee-related performance fees from indefinite term vehicles, that are measured and received on a recurring basis and not dependent on realization events of the underlying investments, excluding performance fees from Athene and performance fees from origination platforms dependent on capital appreciation, and (iv) other income, net, less (a) fee-related compensation, excluding equity-based compensation, (b) non-compensation expenses incurred in the normal course of business, (c) placement fees and (d) non-controlling interests in the management companies of certain funds the Company manages.

Definitions — Fee Related Earnings exclusions · Dépôt 10/08/2026

For the six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025, the Company recorded equity-based compensation expense of $478 million and $315 million, respectively.

Note 13 — actual six-month equity-based compensation expense · Dépôt 10/08/2026

Service-Based Awards During the six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025, 5,926,713 and 1,392,000 shares of common stock, respectively, were repurchased in open market transactions as part of the publicly announced share repurchase programs discussed above, and such shares were subsequently canceled by the Company.

Equity — completed open-market repurchases and cancellations · Dépôt 10/08/2026

The Company paid $729 million and $193 million for these open market share repurchases during the six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025, respectively.

Equity — cash paid for open-market repurchases · Dépôt 10/08/2026

An aggregate of 14,587,300 shares of common stock were issued following June 30, 2026, including early conversions and shares issued as part of the Conversion.

Equity — shares issued through preferred-stock conversions · Dépôt 10/08/2026

RBC ratio was 436% and 419%, respectively, its Bermuda RBC ratio was 454% and 450%, respectively, and its consolidated RBC ratio was 441% and 430%, respectively.

Liquidity and Capital Resources — year-end 2025 and 2024 RBC ratios · Dépôt 10/08/2026

42 Table of Contents Why Performance Fees are a Key Long-Term Incentive Feature Description Key Driver of Stockholder Value Carried interest is aligned with stockholders because growth in performance fees is a key driver of stockholder value Generating performance fees requires successful fundraising and strong investment performance, which supports future growth in performance fees and is accretive to stockholder value Specific and Predetermined Performance Requirements with Clear Payout Determination Process Carried interest is performance-based and fully at-risk because amounts are paid only after achieving predetermined performance hurdles (an 8% preferred return for most of the investment funds we manage), meaning that fund returns must exceed this threshold before payments to participants are made Amounts paid are generally determined by overall fund performance rather than the outcome of a single investment and are paid only after profitable investments have actually been realized, rewarding sustainable value creation for the Company, our stockholders and the investors in the funds we manage, rather than short-term gains Cap on Payouts Carried interest awards are subject to two implicit caps: (i) aggregate amount of carry generally cannot exceed 20% of the profits realized by the funds we manage, with the remaining 80% or more distributed to fund investors; and (ii) employees generally receive a specified percentage of the aggregate carry, limiting the amount each employee may receive Structure preserves the full incentive to maximize returns for investors Risk Management and Safeguard Features (Clawback and Personal Investment) Amounts paid on drawdown-style funds are generally subject to performance-based clawback, typically net of tax, if future fund performance declines below a specified hurdle (an 8% preferred return for most of the investment funds we manage), causing amounts paid to remain at risk for the entire life of the fund, which tends to be substantially longer than the three- to five-year performance periods that typically apply to performance-based compensation Individuals are generally required to commit personal capital to the funds, ensuring alignment with investors and reinforcing our principal mindset These mechanics discourage short-term decision making that could negatively affect long-term outcomes and prioritize the return of capital to investors before paying employees We target sharing 65% to 75% of the performance fees that are earned from investment funds we manage with Apollo employees across all groups, in connection with our multi-year initiative to shift our compensation mix for senior employees generally, toward greater performance fee income.

Executive Compensation — carried-interest hurdles, personal investment and clawback mechanics · Dépôt 24/04/2026

In December 2021, the Company awarded one-time grants to the then Co-Presidents of AAM of 6.0 million RSUs which vest on a cliff basis subject to continued employment over five years, with 2.0 million of those RSUs also subject to the Company’s achievement of certain fee related earnings and spread related earnings per share metrics.

Note 13 — existing five-year executive RSU awards and performance conditions · Dépôt 10/08/2026

Mr. Rowan deferred the 2025 amount of such performance fee income for an additional two years, enhancing alignment with Apollo.

Executive Compensation — actual deferral of CEO performance-fee income · Dépôt 24/04/2026

✓ Majority Independent Board: Nine of thirteen of our directors are independent.

Corporate Governance — board independence · Dépôt 24/04/2026

✓ Independent Committees: All members of the audit committee, compensation committee, nominating and corporate governance committee and sustainability and corporate responsibility committee are independent and such committees are led by independent committee chairs.

Corporate Governance — independent committees · Dépôt 24/04/2026

✓ One Share, One Vote: We have only one class of common stock outstanding, with each share entitled to one vote.

Corporate Governance — common-stock voting rights · Dépôt 24/04/2026

The Original Complaint alleged that the challenged payments amount to corporate waste, that the challenged payments exceed fair value and therefore the Former Managing Partners and Contributing Partners that received those payments breached their fiduciary duties, and that the independent conflicts committee of the AAM board of directors (which then consisted of Mr.

Legal Proceedings — allegations concerning challenged partner payments · Dépôt 10/08/2026

On September 20, 2024, the Court of Chancery denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss.

Legal Proceedings — denial of motion to dismiss · Dépôt 10/08/2026

On October 28, 2024, the AGM board of directors adopted resolutions forming a Special Litigation Committee (the “SLC”) comprising directors whom the board determined to be independent and disinterested.

Legal Proceedings — formation of Special Litigation Committee · Dépôt 10/08/2026

In 2025, the Compensation Committee approved a peer group consisting of Ares, BlackRock, Blackstone, Blue Owl, Brookfield Asset Management, Carlyle, Goldman Sachs, KKR, Morgan Stanley and TPG.

Executive Compensation — compensation peer group · Dépôt 24/04/2026

Interest expense was $165 million in 2026, an increase of $45 million from $120 million in 2025.

MD&A — six-month interest expense · Dépôt 10/08/2026

The increase in 2026 was primarily driven by higher interest rates from additional debt issuances in the full year 2025 and 2026.

MD&A — debt issuance and interest expense drivers · Dépôt 10/08/2026

Years ended December 31, (In millions) 2025 2024 2023 Net cash provided by the Company's operating activities $ 7,263 $ 3,781 $ 6,519 Net cash used in the Consolidated Funds and VIEs operating activities (17) (528) (197) Net cash provided by operating activities 7,246 3,253 6,322 Net cash used in the Company's investing activities (62,250) (60,547) (39,834) Net cash used in the Consolidated Funds and VIEs investing activities (1,722) (1,254) (2,573) Net cash used in investing activities (63,972) (61,801) (42,407) Net cash provided by the Company's financing activities 58,010 55,577 42,021 Net cash provided by the Consolidated Funds and VIEs financing activities 2,190 2,395 617 Net cash provided by financing activities $ 60,200 $ 57,972 $ 42,638 Operating Activities The Company’s operating activities support its Asset Management, Retirement Services and Principal Investing activities.

Liquidity and Capital Resources — annual cash flows · Dépôt 25/02/2026

For the investment portfolio total return performance objective based on AHL’s non-alternative investment performance, the Compensation Committee compared AHL’s results of 5.84% for the 33-month period ending September 30, 2025, to 4.18% for the Barclays US Aggregate Bond Index, which pursuant to the formula resulted in a payout of 100% of the award for this objective.

Executive Compensation — non-alternative investment benchmark comparison · Dépôt 24/04/2026

Historique des publications

Historique des publications
VersionMis à jourAvantage concurrentiel
823/10/2026narrow
722/10/2026narrow
619/10/2026narrow
519/10/2026uncertain
418/10/2026uncertain
318/10/2026uncertain
218/10/2026uncertain
118/10/2026Indisponible

Sources

Méthode et limites de l’analyse · Comprendre ce concept