Leon Black Net Worth 2024: How Finance and Art Built a $13.7 Billion Fortune

Leon Black, the American entrepreneur and philanthropist, has accumulated billions and billions of dollars as the co-founder of Apollo Global Management. As one of the largest private equity firms in the world, it manages over $651 billion in assets today.

In 2024, Leon Black’s net worth exceeds $13.7 billion.

Leon Black’s expertise in making smart investments has been one of the factors that propelled Apollo to its success today. Even though he no longer sits on the throne of the business, he holds significant stock in Apollo, among other investments and assets.

Let’s see what exactly makes up Black’s fortune.

Leon Black’s Net Worth Breakdown:

As the former CEO of the leading private equity firm Apollo Global Management, Inc., Leon Black has an impressive portfolio of assets and many investments that have contributed toward his net worth.

From his purchases in the art world to his business investments and luxurious real estate holdings, Black has a diversified portfolio of assets.

Unsurprisingly, Black hasn’t revealed all of the ins and outs of his finances and spending habits, but we were able to find sufficient data to create a comprehensive estimate of his net worth. Here’s how it breaks down.

4 Fun Facts about Leon Black

1. Career Origins: Black was once told he lacked the qualifications to work on Wall Street, despite later becoming a driving force behind Apollo’s $650 billion in managed assets.
2. Unique Art Collection: His collection, valued at approximately $1 billion, includes rare works like The Scream, which he purchased for nearly $120 million.
3. Family Legacy: Leon’s family background includes notable figures in business and Broadway; his wife, Debra Ressler, is a producer.
4. Philanthropy & Impact: Beyond large donations to educational institutions and research, Black’s name has been associated with various arts and educational initiatives across the U.S.

Latest News & Controversies

In recent news, Leon Black’s financial dealings with Jeffrey Epstein have continued to be a source of legal issues and public scrutiny.

Notably, the U.S. Senate Committee began examining his financial transfers facilitated by Epstein, reportedly valued at $158 million, as part of a wider inquiry into tax avoidance schemes.

Additionally, his 2024 settlement with the U.S. Virgin Islands for $62.5 million aims to address any claims related to this ongoing investigation, reflecting his complex legacy in both business and personal matters.

Early Life and Education

Leon David Black was born on July 31, 1951, into a Jewish family. He is the son of Eli M. Black, a businessman who emigrated from Poland as a child and was the chairman and majority owner of the United Brands Company. Leon’s mother, Shirley Lubell, was an artist.

Later in life, in 1975 to be precise, Black faced a tragic loss when his father died of suicide when he jumped out of the Pan Am Building in New York at the age of 53. Eli Black was a prominent figure in society. He grew up in poverty but quickly became incredibly successful and lived a quiet life with his devoted family.

At one point, he left the rabbinate to become a businessman but remained a dedicated scholar of Judaism. This likely influenced Leon Black’s entrepreneurial pursuits.

Leon Black received his undergraduate degree in Philosophy and History from Dartmouth College in 1973 and subsequently enrolled to study business administration at Harvard Business School. He obtained his MBA two years later.

From His Early Career Days to the Rise of Apollo

Leon Black’s career started straight out of university, but he didn’t create Apollo Global Management right away. Let’s see what steps he took that propelled him to billionaire status.

Leon Black’s Early Career

Following his graduation from Harvard University, Black started working as an accountant at Peat Marwick, a venture that later turned into KPMG. He also worked with Boardroom Reports, a publisher producing business content, for an unknown amount of time.

At one point during his early career days, Leon Black interviewed at Lehman Brothers, too, but someone told him that he didn’t have what it takes to succeed on Wall Street. In hindsight, he should be glad that he didn’t get the job as Lehman Brothers would completely collapse in 2008.

A few years later, Black proved the hiring managers wrong when he founded Apollo Global Management Inc. in 1990. Little did he know that it would eventually become one of the most successful private equity companies in the world!

Between 1977 and 1990, Leon Black worked at the investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert, where he held several positions. He became managing director and head of the mergers and acquisitions group and co-headed its corporate finance department. At the company, people knew him as Michael Milken’s right-hand man.

Following the bankruptcy of Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1990, Black decided to start his own business using his knowledge and experience. That same year, he, along with Joshua Harris, Antony Ressler, and Marc Rowan, established the popular Apollo Global Management, Inc., the company that changed his life.

Apollo Global Management

Apollo Global Management, Inc. is a private equity firm that invests in mostly private equity, real assets, and credit. In 2022, Apollo had $548 billion in assets under management, investing money on behalf of sovereign wealth funds, financial endowments, pension funds, and individual investors. Today, it manages over $650 billion in assets.

Apollo Global Management, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is now headquartered in the Solow Building, New York City, but also operates from offices across Europe, North America, and Asia.

The business was originally named Apollo Advisors. Within six months after Drexel’s collapse, Apollo launched the Apollo Investment Fund L.P., which was the first of many private equity investment funds that followed. Not long after, Apollo Global Management raised $400 million in investor commitments, a lot of it thanks to Black’s reputation in the financial world as Milken’s right hand.

In addition to its private funds, Apollo Global Management, Inc. also operates Apollo Investment Corporation (AIC). This publicly traded business development company – which rebranded to MidCap Financial Investment Corporation in 2022 – provides equity investments and mezzanine debt to middle-market companies.

When Apollo Global Management, Inc. went public in 2011, Black held a 23% stake in the company. However, he has since sold a portion of his stock in Apollo. In February 2024, Black sold $172.8 million worth of stock, which equals around 2% of his stake in Apollo Global Management Inc.

Today, he reportedly owns around 15% of Apollo stock, equaling over 43 million shares worth $4.8 billion.

Controversies and Legal Problems

As a prominent figure in the finance industry, Leon Black has been involved in many controversies and legal problems.

One of these would eventually force his hand to resign as the CEO of Apollo Global Management Inc. Although Leon Black played a major role in the growth of the business, a connection forged with the wrong person forced him to resign from Apollo.

Jeffrey Epstein Controversy

The biggest controversy that involves Leon Black is the one with Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein, a former financier, was a registered sex offender who was accused of sex trafficking and killed himself (allegedly) in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019.

Back in 1997, Leon Black made Jeffrey Epstein one of the original trustees of his Debra and Leon Black Foundation, a mistake that cost him dearly. After the major scandal with Epstein and a published record that shared that Leon Black paid Epstein $158 million between 2012 and 2018 for “tax and estate services”. Black stepped down as CEO of Apollo Global Management in 2021 due to links to the controversial sex offender.

Dechert LLP was retained by Apollo to investigate Black’s dealings with Jeffrey Epstein, and they were the ones to release the record. The revelations raised questions about Black’s connection to Epstein and his judgment.

Following the publishing of the report, in 2022, Black included former Apollo CEO Josh Harris in a civil racketeer-influenced and corrupt organizations (RICO) lawsuit, saying that he led a group within the company they co-founded in an attempt to tarnish his reputation.

However, his suit was dismissed by Judge Paul Engelmayer for lack of evidence, and the appeals courts also upheld his decision a year later.

Following these scandals, Leon Black agreed to pay $62.5 million to the US Virgin Islands to be released from any claims arising out of the three-year investigation into a sex trafficking operation of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Scrutiny into Black’s relationship with Epstein hasn’t abated. In April 2024, a senate committee charged with investigating how Epstein facilitated the tax avoidance schemes that Black used and made large payments for. Questions were raised about how much scrutiny Bank of America put payments of $158 million under, which Black sent to Epstein 2012 and 2017.

Leon Black’s Controversial Affair

Leon Black has also been cleared of allegations filed by Guzel Ganieva, who accused Black of rape but later denied the allegations. A New York state judge, Justice David Cohen, decided to dismiss the case, stating that Ganieva accepted a $9.5 million settlement from Black under a non-disclosure agreement following their consensual affair which lasted for six years and ended in 2014.

The lawsuit originated from Black’s 2021 interview where he admitted to the affair and accused Ganieva of attempting to extort him with threats of going public. Following his interview, Ganieva made allegations of abuse on Twitter.

“I was sexually harassed and abused by [Black] for years [and ultimately] forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement under duress,” she wrote.

Leon Black Net Worth: Philanthropy & Charity Work

In addition to being a well-known businessman and the co-founder of Apollo Global Management, Leon Black has long been a respected figure in society due to his many philanthropic endeavors. He is married to Debra Ressler, a Broadway producer and sister of Antony Ressler, the Ares Management co-founder. One of the couple’s four children, Ben, runs an investment fund.

Together with his wife, Debra Black, Leon has contributed a fortune to charity causes. In 2007, the couple donated $25 million for the development of the new Melanoma Research Alliance. Both of them serve on the organization’s board.

In 2012, Leon Black donated $48 million to the building of a new visual arts center at his alma mater, Dartmouth College.

In 2018, Black was appointed chairman of The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. His term as chairman of New York’s Museum of Modern Art ended in 2021 when he didn’t seek re-election because of protests happening over his ties to Epstein.

Leon Black’s contributions to society extend to Mount Sinai Hospital, too, where he serves as a trustee and contributes support to healthcare initiatives. He is also engaged with The Asia Society and has pledged to donate $200 million to women’s charities.

Other Businesses and Investments

Black’s successful career doesn’t entirely revolve around his founding of Apollo. During his many years in the business world, Leon Black has been involved in numerous business ventures.

He is also an avid art collector and has invested a fortune in real estate.

In 2012, Leon Black acquired Phaidon Press, a fine art books publishing house, for an undisclosed sum. He bought the publisher from Richard Schlagman as a personal investment that has no connections to Apollo. Phaidon is one of several high-end art book publishers, which makes this investment quite fitting for someone with a high interest in the art world like Black.

Black’s Extensive Art Collection

Leon Black is a major art aficionado. Thanks to his financial achievements, he has managed to accumulate a fortune in his net worth, and he has spent a significant portion of his wealth on his impressive collection of art pieces.

Black’s art collection includes pieces from renowned artists like Vincent Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso, among others. In 2012, he bought one of the four versions of the iconic “The Scream” by Edvard Munch, worth $119.9 million. At that point, this was the highest price paid for a work of art. That same year, he decided to exhibit his newly acquired art at the Museum of Modern Art for six months starting in October.

A year later, Black purchased an 11-inch-wide work by Raphael titled Head of a Young Apostle, spending over $36 million after a bidding war.

In 2015, Black bought a complete set worth $9.3 million – Daniel Bomberg’s Babylonian Talmud. The following year, after Pelham Europe and Larry Gagosian, an art gallery owner, settled a lawsuit over Bust of a Woman by Picasso, he bought the bust, though the exact amount he spent hasn’t been disclosed.

According to an Artnet report, Leon Black’s private art collection is worth at least $1 billion.

Real Estate

Black and his wife Debra have also made a name for themselves in the real estate world. For many years, the couple has showcased a passion for luxurious properties by building an impressive portfolio that includes residences in Los Angeles, New York City, and more.

In New York City, Black owns a magnificent penthouse on Park Avenue. In Los Angeles’ Bel Air neighborhood, the family has a sprawling mansion.

The Blacks own a luxurious Manhattan townhouse worth $50 million, a beachfront home in Southampton worth $43 million, and their Beverly Hills mansion is worth $38 million.

What Can We Learn from Leon Black’s Story?

Despite the many controversies over the years, it’s undoubted that Black’s career has had a major impact on the business and investment world. Leon Black’s commitment to his ventures, as well as his famous strategic approach to investing, have many lessons to teach us.

Black co-founded Apollo with a vision to build a leading alternative investment firm. His entrepreneurial spirit and willingness to take calculated risks were instrumental in establishing Apollo as a major player in the private equity industry.

His financial success is a testament to his talent and smart decision-making in the private equity industry. Through his leadership of Apollo, he has made many brilliant strategic investments that majorly contributed to the success of the business. He has had a reputation for ruthlessness in the industry and, over the years, earned the trust of investors around the world.

Black’s success is attributed to his ability to identify lucrative opportunities and use data to make smart investment decisions. Apollo’s strategy focuses on opportunistic investment and distressed assets. Leon Black demonstrated an amazing ability to identify such assets and generate attractive returns for his venture during his tenure at Apollo.

Leon Black’s legacy extends beyond his successes in the investment world. His contributions to philanthropy reflect a commitment to making a positive impact on society and giving back to the community.

Finally, while his legacy is diversified and mainly positive, Black’s story teaches us that the relationships we build with people can have a tremendous effect on our lives.

His connection and dealings with Epstein may have made him money at the time, but his negligence would come back to bite him dearly.