Apollo touts Athene annuity sales, sees ‘robust future’ in other products

Higher fee revenue and strong retirement products drove another strong quarter for Apollo Global Management.

A bold five-year plan laid out in October calls for Apollo to double in five years. Its Q4 results provided a strong start, with $33 billion of inflows and assets under management increasing 15% to $751 billion.

Apollo executives held a conference call Tuesday morning with Wall Street analysts.

“This is exactly the quarter and exactly the year we want,” CEO Marc Rowan said. “Recall what we are trying to do and what we've reiterated in our five-year planning process: We are not here to grow the fastest. We are not here to grow the largest. We are here to deliver the plan and like who we are and like our franchise at the end of the five-year journey.”

Athene Life & Annuity, a wholly owned subsidiary of Apollo, remains the No. 1 seller of annuities. Through the third quarter of 2024, the most recent statistics, Athene sold nearly $28 billion worth of annuities, far outdistancing No. 2 seller Corebridge Financial.

In January alone, Athene inflows totaled $9 billion, Rowan said. He cautioned analysts not to expect that number in every month of 2025.

“We seek to earn excess returns, and when we see opportunities to do that, we will be very aggressive,” Rowan said. “When returns are not as clinical or not where we want them to be, we will back off. We run a principles-based business, and you can count on us to be good, responsible stewards of capital.”

Apart from Athene, the firm sees “a robust future” in target-date funds, managed accounts and other forms of retirement solutions, Rowan said.

“We as a company and we as an industry have yet to really hit on our full potential, and I believe our full potential is to offer consumers and businesses and clients much simpler solutions, guaranteed lifetime income versus a complex annuity is where I think the journey is focused,” Rowan said.

In other Apollo news

New No. 2 man. The call included the debut of Jim Zelter in the newly created role of president, overseeing Apollo’s asset management operations and its insurer, Athene Life & Annuity. John Zito, head of credit at Apollo, was promoted into Zelter’s position as co-president of asset management operations, working with current co-president Scott Kleinman.

The moves were announced in January and reportedly clarify Apollo’s succession plan. Rowan, 62, briefly considered a leading candidate to serve as secretary of treasury under President Donald Trump, inked a new five-year deal to remain head of the company.

Rowan referred to Zelter as “my partner” and frequently called on him to clarify points or give answers to analysts’ questions.

Quarterly Snapshot

• Record quarterly and annual fee-related earnings of $554 million and $2.1 billion, respectively, driven by strong growth in fee related revenues and disciplined expense growth
• Quarterly and annual spread-related earnings totaling $841 million and $3.2 billion, respectively, reflecting robust organic growth and higher alternative net investment income
• Total AUM of $751 billion benefited from inflows of $33 billion in the fourth quarter and $152 billion in 2024, driving a 15% increase year-over-year
• Origination volume totaled $61 billion in the fourth quarter and $222 billion in 2024, with platforms and high grade capital solutions contributing more than half of total origination volume for the full year
• Raised a record $12 billion of capital in 2024 from a combination of successful product launches, ongoing distribution expansion, and continued education focused on providing solutions for individual investors

Management Perspective

“The toughest thing we do, and I know this will sound somewhat trite, toughest thing we do, and now that Jim does, because I get to share the responsibility with him, is to keep the team planning to win. Successful companies across our industry, across every industry, have a tendency to play not to lose.”

Marc Rowan, chief executive officer

By The Numbers

• Adjusted net Income: $1.36 billion
• Earnings Per Share: $2.22 a share, beating analysts’ expectation of $1.85 a share
• Share Repurchases: More than $1.2 billion of common stock in 2024
• Dividend Declared: 46.25 cents per share for the quarter
• Stock Price Movement: $162.68 per share, down 2.6%

© Entire contents copyright 2025 by InsuranceNewsNet.com Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted without the expressed written consent from InsuranceNewsNet.com.

InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.