Josh Harris
KEY THREATS:
Private Equity Vulture Climate Corruptor For-profit education profiteer Private equity billionaire Josh Harris built Apollo Global Management, one of the most powerful firms on Wall Street, by employing the private equity playbook of buying up everything from hospitals to for-profit colleges, squeezing them with ruinous “cost cutting,” and then selling them for profit. He also exchanged emails with firm associate Jeffrey Epstein and appears to have arranged to meet him at least once in the period after Epstein had been convicted for solicitation of sex with a minor.
Off Wall Street, Harris may be best known as the owner of sports teams like the Philadelphia 76ers, the New Jersey Devils, and the Washington Commanders. But don’t worry, he’s using his position at the Washington Commanders to siphon money away public money too: siphoning $1 billion from Washington DC in public funds to move a stadium 7 miles, which a professor who studies stadium deals estimates could cost the city $6 billion to $25 billion in revenue loss over time.
NET WORTH
Co-founder
Apollo Global
OTHER COMPANIES
LINKED TO
Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, Marc Rowan, Leon Black
AGE
61
STATE
Florida
PART OF
Controversies
- Exchanged emails with Epstein and appears to have arranged to meet him at least once in the period after Epstein was convicted for solicitation of sex with a minor.
- Harris’ Apollo co-founder Leon Black maintained deep ties with Jeffrey Epstein, even after Epstein’s 2008 conviction on charges including procuring a minor for prostitution, and paid him $170 million for estate planning and tax services.
- While Harris left Apollo in 2021 amidst tension over how to handle co-founder Leon Black’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, as of June 2026 he remains a major investor, with a 6% stake in the company.
Obscene Spending
- Bought the most expensive home in DC history in 2026 for $28 million. It has 12 bedrooms, 9 full bathrooms, 13 half bathrooms, 12 parking spots, and a swimming pool.
- Owns teams in the NBA, NHL and NFL: the Philadelphia 76ers, the New Jersey Devils, and the Washington Commanders. In his role as owner of the Commanders, he has become a beneficiary of a massive corporate tax giveaway that reduced city revenue.
Enabling
Private Equity Apocalypse
A rebrand of what used to be called “corporate raiding” or “asset stripping,” private equity firms exploded after the 2008 financial crisis, infiltrated aspects of everyday life ranging from doctors’ practices to newspapers to ambulance companies to public water systems to clothing retailers. Apollo is one of the largest, executing this playbook on everything from beloved retail chains to essential healthcare services, and hospitals.
Since 2017, when Harris was still at Apollo, it has held a major stake in the largest student debt producer in the country: the University of Phoenix. The for-profit college has been widely criticized for alleged predatory behavior, including misleading prospective students about jobs the school could help them land and employing illegal recruitment tactics targeting veterans.
Apollo also owns two of the U.S.’s largest hospital systems, Lifepoint Health and ScionHealth. Healthcare advocates have criticized Apollo’s management for posing risks to patients and healthcare workers and prompting cuts to healthcare services, layoffs, and regulatory investigations. Apollo acquired Lifepoint in 2018, before Harris left the company. In 2021, Apollo created ScionHealth in 2022, after Harris left the company, although he remains an investor.
Now, Apollo is acquiring data centers and investing in AI expansion, which it calls the “Global Industrial Renaissance.”
