Private equity firm Apollo Global Management and its billionaire co-founder Leon Black are poised to gain a direct link to the Trump administration. On January 31, 2025, President Donald Trump nominated Ben Black—Leon’s 40-year-old son and a former Apollo associate—to serve as CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). The announcement came three days after Bloomberg reported Apollo’s interest in purchasing debt tied to Elon Musk’s acquisition of the social media platform X.
Black’s nomination was unexpected. As of mid-January, Black was not among the candidates reporters had linked to the position, who included several arguably more qualified candidates like former Bridgewater Associates executive David Bohigian and former Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.), the chief sponsor of the legislation that created the DFC.
In February 2025, Apollo purchased an unspecified amount of X’s debt at 97 cents on the dollar, part of a broader sale of the billions in debt that financed Musk’s 2022 acquisition of the platform that also involved companies like Pimco and Citadel. The debt sales significantly bolstered X’s financial situation, enabling Musk’s AI venture xAI to acquire the platform at a $45 billion valuation late last month. The valuation is a stark reversal from the company’s struggles since Musk’s $44 billion purchase in October 2022, a price that was widely seen at the time as inflated. In September of last year, Fidelity estimated that the company had lost 79% of its value since Musk’s acquisition. But Trump’s election and the desire by businesses to curry favor with Musk in his new role with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) appear to have been a boon for investor interest in the company.
