Background and career
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 resigned from both Apollo Global Management and the Museum of Modern Art in the wake of revelations about his business ties to the New York financier and child sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. Between 2012 and 2017, Black paid Epstein a total of $170 million for "tax and financial services" that reportedly saved him over $1 billion in taxes. After Black had a long-term affair with a Russian model, she threatened to make public allegations of sexual abuse unless he paid her $100 million. Epstein negotiated a 2015 NDA under which Black agreed to pay her $100,000 per month over 15 years, totalling $18 million. In 2020, Black said that he "deeply regrets" his relationship with Epstein. As of 2026, Black has a net worth of approximately $13.8 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, derived primarily from his retained stake in Apollo Global Management.
Black is a son of Eli M. Black (1921–1975), a Jewish businessman who emigrated from Poland as a child (surname, "Blachowitz") and was the chairman and later majority owner of the United Brands Company. His mother, Shirley Lubell (sister of Tulsa oil executive Benedict I. Lubell) was an artist. In 1975, his father killed himself at age 53. Black received an AB in philosophy and history from Dartmouth College in 1973 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1975.
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 and 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. After Drexel Burnham Lambert filed for bankruptcy in 1990, Black co-founded Apollo Global Management with Marc Rowan, Josh Harris, and Antony Ressler. Apollo specialized in leveraged buyouts and distressed securities, growing to become one of the world's largest private equity firms. The firm went public in 2011 and as of March 2026 manages approximately $1.03 trillion in assets under management. Black was CEO until January 2021, when he stepped down following the publication of the Dechert report into his financial ties to Jeffrey Epstein, and fully departed Apollo in March 2021. Since leaving Apollo, Black has managed his personal investments through his family office Elysium Management, which invests in real estate and private equity. In 2012, Black acquired Phaidon Press, a fine art books publishing house. Black's net worth results primarily from his retained stake in Apollo Global Management. In February 2024, he sold Apollo shares for the first time since co-founding the firm, offloading approximately $172.8 million worth of stock (roughly 2% of his holding). Documents released through the Justice Department's Epstein investigation included a detailed 2014-2015 financial summary of Black's personal balance sheet, offering an unusually in-depth view of his assets, debts, and liquidity at a time when his net worth was estimated at approximately $5 billion.
Black was on the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College from 2002 to 2011. He is on Dartmouth's President's Leadership Council and has endowed a chair in Shakespeare Studies as well as a program in Jewish Studies. In 2018, he was elected chairman of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. His term commenced on July 1, 2018. His term as chairman ended on July 1, 2021, and he did not seek re-election, in the wake of protests from dozens of artists and activists over his financial ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Leon and his wife Debra are both on the board of the Melanoma Research Alliance.
Black is married to Debra Ressler, a 1976 Barnard College graduate and Broadway producer and sister of Apollo Management co-founder Antony Ressler. They have four children. One of their children, Benjamin, runs an investment fund and was nominated by President Donald Trump to run the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. Debra Black is a melanoma survivor. In 2007, the couple donated $25 million to form the Melanoma Research Alliance. In 2012, Black gave $48 million toward a new visual arts center at Dartmouth College. In 2016, Black listed his condominium at Miami's Faena House for sale with listing agent Oren Alexander. Black's primary home is in Manhattan and he has a beachfront compound in Southampton, New York. In 2016, he and Debra bought a Beverly Hills estate previously owned by the actor Tom Cruise for approximately $38 million; the property sold in March 2026 for approximately $47 million.
In May 2012, Black purchased one of the four versions of Edvard Munch's The Scream. He paid $119.9 million for the pastel, then the highest price ever paid for a work of art. In September 2012, the Museum of Modern Art announced the work would be exhibited for a six-month period starting in October. In June 2013, it was revealed that Black had purchased Head of a Young Apostle, an 11-inch-wide (28 cm) work by Raphael for £29 million after a four-party bidding war. On December 22, 2015, it was reported that Black purchased at auction a complete set of the Daniel Bomberg Babylonian Talmud for $9.3 million. According to a press release from the Sotheby's auction house, the sale was "a new world auction record for any piece of Judaica." In June 2016, a lawsuit over the Picasso sculpture Bust of a Woman (Marie-Thérèse) between the advisory firm Pelham Europe and art gallery owner Larry Gagosian was settled. Pelham Europe, an agent for a member of Qatar's royal family, and Gagosian, who had resold the bust to Black, both claimed ownership. The case was settled by Maya Widmaier-Picasso, the owner of the sculpture. The settlement included Black getting the sculpture and Widmaier Picasso paying Pelham an undisclosed amount.
