What does one do once they make a billion, let alone a few billion dollars? David Rubenstein founded The Carlyle Group and has stepped back from the majority of his corporate duties over the past 5 years as he hit his 70s. However he appears busier than ever via his near constant interview cadence of interesting leaders on Bloomberg (and other forums).
Yesterday, his interview with Apollo’s Marc Rowan aired.
As a CEO, Rowan clearly outlines that his job is to set culture, oversee communications (internal and external), set strategy, and solve problems. He has elevated himself from the details of running the business to his two Co-Presidents (with Jim Zelter overseeing Yield and Scott Kleinman overseeing Hybrid and Equity).
And it’s obvious that he has made a dramatic shift in all aspects of his role versus the prior guard. Three examples on culture is everyone is now on at least a 4/1 schedule (in office / work from home) with many on 3/2, Miami and West Palm Beach offices have opened with more to come based on where people want to live, and compensation has been reset to give greater share of carry to employees and higher share of fee earnings to shareholders (acknowledging public markets don’t value carry highly versus fee earnings).
Check out the interview for more on all aspects of the wholesale change occurring at Apollo, including the acquisition of Athene, FinTech participation, and growth prioritization.
Disclosure: We own shares of Apollo, this is not investment advice. Do your own work.