Apollo Global hired 350 people last year. "It's a super nice, low-ego place now"

 If you're looking for a fast-growing, high-paying, casual place to work, there's always Jane Street. But if you're not a developer or a quant, you might want to try Apollo Global instead. The buy-side firm is a reformed employer, and it's making some big hires.

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Speaking during Apollo's investor call last week, Apollo CFO Martin Kelly said the firm hired 350 people last year, an increase of about 9 percent by our calculations. "Half of the new hires were in North America and Europe, and the other half in Mumbai," Kelly said. In 2024, Apollo plans to hire in a "highly targeted" way. Mumbai will remain the focus, Kelly said. , but the fund's focus is also on scaling initiatives, building high-value coverage and creating new products and products. Speaking on the same call, CEO Mark Rowan chronicled the firm's insane expansion since 2008. emphasized. "We have increased 14 times. That's faster than Apple's revenue. That's faster than Microsoft's revenue. Which is faster than semiconductors, really extraordinary,” enthuses Rowan.

When Apollo grew up, that changed. Three years ago, juniors at the firm complained of 20-hour days and 3am grinds among dealmakers who 'worked like jerks'. In 2021, the firm was reportedly forced to increase associate pay from $100k to $550k a year after many of them threatened to quit.

Some of Apollo's historic hard-driving culture was propagated by Apollo co-founder Josh Harris, who stepped down in the mid-2000s to manage his own investments. In 2020, the Wall Street Journal accused Harris of sending emails on Saturday mornings and "?" If he doesn't get a response within 10 minutes. It said Harris' reputation for "hammering young analysts about their financial models" and saying things like, "Some people play golf. Some people play tennis. I used to work." I am."

 

Mark Rowan took over as CEO of Apollo in early 2021, around which time there were complaints of overwork. The culture there has changed under his management. Bloomberg said last year that it has become more cerebral, that there is less micromanaging and more diversity. Speaking off the record, a private equity headhunter confirms that is the case. "Apollo is no longer a challenging or aggressive place to work," he says, referring to the experience of people who have been placed there. "It now attracts very nice, low-ego people."

That may be so, although some of Apollo's colleagues may disagree. Writing on Wall Street Oasis last year, a young female colleague who claimed to work for the fund said the hours were still "insane" and that 80-hour weeks and on-call nights were the norm.

Apollo ranked fourth among the best private equity employers to work for in our Ideal Employer report. It was rated as less welfare-friendly than rival funds. Apollo did not respond to a request for comment for this article.

 

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