A public record of Apollo Global Management's losses
$700B in assets under management.
Here's what they don't put on the homepage.
deals gone wrong
bankruptcies
largest PE fine (SEC)
They call it "private credit" because they'd rather you not see it publicly.
$7.2B leveraged buyout. Loaded with $4.25B in debt. Chapter 11 in October 2019. Apollo backed out of their own $475M rescue commitment.
$27.8B leveraged buyout, weeks before the financial crisis. Creditors called it “unimaginably brazen looting.” Apollo surrendered their entire equity stake.
Written down to zero. Part of $500M committed through Athene. Bloomberg: “a rare stumble for a strategy touted as one of private credit’s safest.”
Estimated credit losses climbed to $503M on a $118.6B portfolio. Loans deemed unrecoverable ballooned 273%.
Apollo claims 39% gross IRR since 1990. Oxford researcher Ludovic Phalippou called it "severely distorted" — their actual gross multiple is 1.82x. Here's how specific funds did against a free index fund.
| Fund | Size | Apollo Net IRR | Index | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fund VI2006 | $10.1B | 8.6–10% | ~10.5%S&P 500 | Matched the index. Charged PE fees for it. |
| Fund IV1998 | $3.6B | ~10% | ~7%S&P 500 | Beat a rough decade for stocks, but modest for PE. |
| Aligned AlternativesEvergreen | N/A | 7.5% | 17.4%S&P 500 | Less than half the index. In 2025. |
| Diversified Credit (CRDIX)Ongoing | N/A | 6.2% | ~5.8%HY Bond Index | 3.33% expense ratio eats most of the edge. |
Matched the index. Charged PE fees for it.
Beat a rough decade for stocks, but modest for PE.
Less than half the index. In 2025.
3.33% expense ratio eats most of the edge.
What you pay for the privilege of underperforming.
Oxford's Phalippou found that PE funds (2006–2015 vintage) returned ~11% annually — roughly matching the S&P 500 — while the industry collected $230 billion in carried interest. Apollo was among the firms that received the findings before publication.
Six Apollo portfolio companies that filed Chapter 11.
Acquired from GE for $3.8B. Bankrupt under $4B in debt. Apollo’s stake diluted to ~40%.
$27.8B buyout. Creditors recovered 66 cents on the dollar. Apollo forfeited ~$950M in equity.
$3.1B buyout. Loaded with 10x earnings in debt. Control passed to Elliott Management.
Created by Apollo in 2005. 14 years later: Chapter 11. $2B in debt cut. Creditors took control.
$7.2B buyout. Wrote down $1.1B in drilling fields. Apollo abandoned their own rescue financing.
$920M loan. 5 hospitals closed. 2,400 layoffs. Massachusetts seized a hospital via eminent domain.
What "institutional grade" actually looks like.
Largest SEC penalty against a PE firm. Hidden fees, undisclosed loans, personal expenses charged to fund investors.
Co-founder paid $158M to Epstein for “financial advice”—after Epstein’s guilty plea. Senate found $1B+ in avoided taxes. Black resigned.
Apollo valued a Medallia loan at 77¢. KKR valued the same loan at 91¢. Largest gap ever recorded. They mark their own books.
SEC fine for using personal devices for business communications that were never archived.
Crypto gets the headlines. Apollo loses the billions.
| Deal | Apollo Loss | Crypto Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| EP Energy | ~$2.5B | 35x the Bitfinex hack |
| Caesars | $950M forfeited | 3x the Wormhole exploit |
| Claire’s + Hexion + Momentive | $10B+ destroyed | A top-20 token market cap |
| Perch write-down | $170M → $0 | Institutional rug pull |
EP Energy
Caesars
Claire’s + Hexion + Momentive
Perch write-down
Apollo Global Management manages $700 billion. Their portfolio companies have gone bankrupt six times. They paid the largest SEC fine in private equity history. Their co-founder resigned over Jeffrey Epstein.
But sure, tell crypto it's "risky."