Scott Kleinman
The Strategist
The long view, patient, analytical, playing several moves ahead.
Scott Kleinman exemplifies The Strategist archetype throughout this interview, demonstrating a sustained capacity to read structural shifts in markets and position Apollo ahead of them. Kleinman traces a deliberate evolution from opportunistic contrarianism in private equity to methodical identification of secular transitions, including the public-private convergence, the insurance annuity platform, and the democratization of alternatives through 401k channels. He articulates each move not as reactive but as pattern recognition built on deep sector knowledge, repeatedly distinguishing alpha creation from levered beta riding. Kleinman frames Apollo's breadth, spanning investment grade credit to private equity, as a strategic toolbox rather than a product catalog, and his discipline in avoiding overvalued real estate for fifteen years illustrates a strategist who knows when not to act as clearly as when to act.
“Our reason for being has been to find that excess return, use a whole bunch of techniques we've developed across asset classes to extract that excess return per unit of risk that you as an investor are willing to take.”
“If the market's zigging, be prepared to zag. Now, doesn't always work. You can't always zag, but have a view and don't be afraid if that's different than the market view.”
“We've never wanted to be an alternative asset supermarket where we just have one of everything. If we didn't think it was a good place to be investing, we didn't want to be selling you that product.”
Money Maze Podcast: “The Irreversible Convergence of Public & Private Markets – With Scott Kleinman, Co-President of Apollo Asset Management”
LISTEN AT THE SOURCE ↗THE RECORD IS CHECKABLE