Leon Black Net Worth

Leon Black has an estimated net worth of $13.8 billion, according to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires, Leon Black profile (figures as of October 20, 2026). That is up from $6.4 billion in 2019.

Leon Black is an American private equity investor best known for helping build Apollo Global Management. He spent much of his early career at Drexel Burnham Lambert, where he rose to lead the mergers and acquisitions group and also served as co-head of the corporate finance department. After Drexel filed for bankruptcy in 1990, he teamed up with Marc Rowan and Josh Harris to start Apollo, a firm focused on leveraged buyouts and distressed securities.

Apollo became one of the biggest names in private equity and went public in 2011. Black served as CEO until 2021 and still owns roughly 9% of the company’s shares. Forbes says his wealth comes from private equity, and Apollo is at the center of that story. The firm manages $1 trillion in assets, which helps explain the scale of his fortune. He also bought Phaidon Press in 2012 and is known as a major art collector.

How Leon Black built his fortune

Black’s fortune is tied mainly to Apollo Global Management, the private equity firm he co-founded in 1990 after Drexel Burnham Lambert collapsed. Apollo grew from a new buyout shop into a giant in finance. Its business in leveraged buyouts and distressed securities gave Black his biggest source of wealth. Forbes places him in Finance & Investments and says he is self-made. Apollo now manages $1 trillion in assets, and Black still owns roughly 9% of its shares.

His path to that wealth started on Wall Street well before Apollo. From 1977 to 1990, he worked at Drexel Burnham Lambert and eventually ran the mergers and acquisitions group while also serving as co-head of corporate finance. That experience helped set up Apollo’s launch with Marc Rowan and Josh Harris. Apollo went public in 2011, giving Black a long-term stake in a public company. He has also managed personal investments through Elysium Management and bought Phaidon Press in 2012.

Forbes net worth snapshot

Forbes has tracked big swings in Black’s estimated fortune over time. It put him at $6.4 billion in 2019, $6.6 billion in 2020, and $8.6 billion in 2021. The estimate then reached $10 billion in 2022 before moving back to $8.6 billion in 2023. Because his wealth is linked heavily to his Apollo stake, changes in the company’s value can have an outsized effect on the Forbes estimate from year to year.

The estimate moved sharply higher after that. Forbes ranked him at $14 billion in 2024 and $14.9 billion in 2025. In 2026, Forbes listed him at $12.2 billion on the World’s Billionaires List, while its real-time tracker showed $13.8 billion in October 2026. Forbes’ current figure is $13.8 billion. Along the way, Black also sold Apollo shares in 2024 for about $172.8 million, the first sale of his stock since co-founding the firm.