Josh Harris | $10B+
Get in touch with Josh Harris | Josh Harris, cofounder of Apollo Global Management, is one of the most accomplished investors of his generation, helping build Apollo into a global alternative-asset powerhouse managing hundreds of billions across private equity, credit, and real assets. After three decades of shaping Apollo’s hallmark value-oriented, contrarian investment strategy, Harris expanded his influence into professional sports as cofounder of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, owning the Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Devils, and, most recently, the Washington Commanders. Known for his analytical discipline, long-term strategy, and philanthropic commitments in education and community development, Harris has become a defining figure in both modern finance and major-league sports ownership.
Joshua Harris (born December 1964) is an American billionaire businessman, investor, and sports team owner.[1] He co-founded the alternative asset management firm Apollo Global Management in 1990 with Leon Black and Marc Rowan, helping to build it into the world's second-largest alternatives manager over three decades before stepping down from day-to-day operations in 2021.[2][3] Harris subsequently founded 26North, a multi-strategy alternative asset manager.[4] In sports, he leads a group that acquired the NFL's Washington Commanders for $6.05 billion in 2023, serving as the team's managing partner, and co-owns the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and NHL's New Jersey Devils via Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, as well as a stake in English Premier League club Crystal Palace.[2][5][6] As of October 2025, his net worth is estimated at $12 billion.[1]
Early life and education
Childhood and family background
Joshua Harris was born in December 1964 in Chevy Chase, Maryland, to Jacob and Sylvia Harris.[1] His father, an orthodontist and alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania with dental degrees from 1958 and advanced training in 1960, and his mother, a schoolteacher and Temple University graduate, met while studying in Philadelphia.[7] Raised in a Jewish household in the affluent suburb of Chevy Chase near Washington, D.C., Harris experienced an upbringing rooted in family immigration history, with both sets of grandparents arriving in the United States in the early 20th century.[8]
The family's environment prioritized education, as evidenced by the parents' academic backgrounds and Harris's own bar mitzvah at Washington Hebrew Congregation, indicative of Reform Jewish traditions.[9][10] This setting provided a stable foundation in a professional, middle-class context, with his paternal grandfather having worked as a postal employee in Philadelphia, underscoring generational mobility through professional achievement rather than institutional dependencies.[7]
Academic and early professional influences
Harris graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1986, where the curriculum provided a rigorous foundation in financial analysis and economic principles.[4] [11] This undergraduate training emphasized quantitative methods and risk assessment, equipping him with core skills for evaluating investment opportunities.[12]
Following graduation, Harris joined Drexel Burnham Lambert in New York City as a mergers and acquisitions analyst, working there for approximately two years until 1988.[13] [14] In this role, he conducted hands-on deal analysis amid the high-stakes environment of leveraged buyouts and junk bond financing, gaining practical experience in structuring transactions and identifying undervalued assets.[12] It was at Drexel that he first collaborated with future Apollo co-founders Leon Black and Marc Rowan, fostering early networks in distressed investing.[13]
Harris then earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1990, where he was designated a Baker Scholar for academic excellence.[4] [11] The program advanced his expertise in quantitative finance, corporate restructuring, and private equity strategies, building on his prior experiences to refine approaches to contrarian deal-making and capital allocation.[12] These academic and initial professional steps cultivated a disciplined framework for analytical reasoning, directly informing his subsequent leadership in alternative asset management.[12]
Finance career
Founding and leadership at Apollo Global Management
Harris co-founded Apollo Global Management in 1990 with Leon Black and Marc Rowan, drawing on their prior roles at Drexel Burnham Lambert to establish a firm specializing in distressed debt, high-yield securities, and leveraged buyouts amid post-1980s market dislocations. The partners raised Apollo's first investment fund of approximately $400 million within six months of inception, targeting undervalued assets for restructuring and resale.[2][15]
As a senior managing director, Harris helped steer Apollo's expansion through opportunistic deals in the 2000s, including leading a $2 billion investment in the distressed Dutch retailer V&D in 2008 and contributing to high-profile leveraged buyouts like Harrah's Entertainment, where Apollo partnered in a $30 billion transaction that capitalized on gaming sector consolidation via debt refinancing and operational efficiencies. These efforts emphasized rigorous due diligence on cash flows and asset recovery potential, yielding compounded returns that propelled Apollo's assets under management from modest beginnings to $498 billion by December 31, 2021. Growth stemmed from causal factors such as exploiting credit cycles for discounted acquisitions and implementing cost disciplines in portfolio companies, particularly in cyclical sectors like media and real estate, where Apollo pursued turnarounds amid economic downturns.[16][17]
Harris influenced Apollo's strategic pivot toward more stable revenue streams, notably endorsing the 2022 all-stock merger with Athene Holding Ltd., which integrated annuity and retirement services to leverage predictable insurance liabilities as a funding source for private investments during prolonged low-interest periods. This adaptation prioritized empirical matching of long-duration assets with liabilities over chasing volatile public markets, bolstering Apollo's fee-generating base and risk-adjusted returns without diluting focus on core buyout disciplines.[18]
Departure from Apollo and establishment of 26North Partners
Harris announced on May 20, 2021, that he would step down from his day-to-day role as managing partner at Apollo Global Management upon the completion of the firm's merger with Athene Holding Ltd., anticipated for the first quarter of 2022.[3][19] The transition aligned with the structural changes from the all-stock merger, valued at approximately $11 billion for Athene's equity, which integrated Apollo's asset management capabilities with Athene's insurance operations.[18] Official statements described the move as Harris's decision, with no indications of performance-related termination, and he retained his position on Apollo's board of directors, preserving ongoing equity ownership as a co-founder.[20][21]
In September 2022, Harris founded 26North Partners LP in New York as a next-generation alternative asset management firm, launching with more than $5 billion in committed capital from investors including pension funds and family offices.[22][23] The firm operates as a multi-asset class platform emphasizing private equity, credit, and insurance-linked solutions, with a focus on flexible capital deployment into businesses exhibiting durable competitive advantages and potential for sustained value creation over activist short-term tactics.[24][25] This boutique structure facilitates integrated investment committees across asset classes, enabling targeted origination of opportunities in complex, undervalued sectors amid post-2022 economic volatility characterized by rising interest rates and market dislocations.[26]
By late 2024, 26North had expanded to approximately $28 billion in assets under management, reflecting disciplined underwriting and capital allocation that contrasted with the operational scale and decision-making layers of larger peers like Apollo.[27][28] The firm's growth stemmed from strategies prioritizing risk-adjusted returns through bespoke credit investments in investment-grade fixed income and equity stakes in scalable enterprises, such as media and technology services, without reliance on broad market betas.[29][30] This approach underscored Harris's pursuit of entrepreneurial autonomy, leveraging his experience to build a nimble platform capable of exploiting inefficiencies overlooked by bureaucratic giants.[31]
Sports ownership
Major franchise acquisitions
In 2011, Josh Harris, alongside David Blitzer, acquired the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association from Comcast Spectacor for $280 million, marking Harris's initial foray into professional sports ownership.[32] This transaction represented a strategic investment in an undervalued asset, applying Harris's private equity background from Apollo Global Management to capitalize on the NBA's growing media rights revenue and franchise appreciation potential.[33]
Harris and Blitzer expanded their holdings in 2013 by purchasing the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League and the operating rights to the Prudential Center arena for approximately $320 million from a creditors' group following the team's financial distress.[34] The deal underscored a calculated bet on hockey's regional market stability and arena monetization opportunities, including non-sports events, amid the NHL's post-lockout recovery.[35] By the mid-2010s, the partners had broadened their portfolio through Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, incorporating minority stakes in entities like Crystal Palace F.C. of the English Premier League in 2015 and co-ownership interests in Major League Soccer's Real Salt Lake and lower-tier soccer clubs such as the Harrisburg City Islanders, aggregating a sports asset base projected to exceed $10 billion in valuation by 2023 driven by league expansions and digital media escalations.[36]
Culminating these efforts, Harris led a consortium—including investors such as Magic Johnson and Mitchell Rales—in acquiring the NFL's Washington Commanders in July 2023 for $6.05 billion, establishing a record purchase price for any U.S. sports franchise.[37] The structure emphasized Harris's majority control while distributing equity to leverage diverse expertise, with the rationale centered on the team's inherent brand value in the lucrative NFL ecosystem, prospective stadium redevelopment in the Washington, D.C., area, and recovery from prior ownership controversies under Dan Snyder, positioning it for long-term capital gains amid rising broadcast deals.[38][39]
Investment strategies and operational initiatives
Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE), founded by Harris in 2017, applies private equity principles to sports operations by prioritizing data-driven decision-making and revenue optimization across its portfolio. A key initiative includes a 2017 partnership with KAGR to implement advanced business analytics for ticket sales, pricing strategies, and overall operational insights, enabling targeted revenue diversification beyond traditional gate receipts.[40] This approach extends to on-ice and on-court management, as seen with the New Jersey Devils' integration of hockey analytics into scouting and player development processes to inform resource allocation.[41]
Facility investments form a core operational strategy to enhance fan engagement and long-term valuations. For the Philadelphia 76ers, HBSE announced a 50-50 joint venture with Comcast Spectacor on January 13, 2025, to develop a new state-of-the-art arena in South Philadelphia, slated for completion by 2031, as part of broader mixed-use development to boost non-game-day revenue streams.[42] Following the July 2023 acquisition of the Washington Commanders, Harris initiated facility audits and upgrades at Northwest Stadium, including the addition of 1,500 upper-deck seats in 2024 and enhancements to concessions and digital ticketing to improve accessibility and premium offerings.[43] [44]
Cross-franchise synergies under HBSE capitalize on shared resources in areas like technology infrastructure and corporate partnerships to drive efficiencies. Harris's multi-team ownership—spanning the 76ers, Devils, and Commanders—facilitates integrated operations, such as unified CRM systems and marketing platforms, reducing redundancies while scaling capabilities akin to private equity portfolio management.[45] In April 2025, Harris committed $2.7 billion to a new roofed Commanders stadium at the RFK site, incorporating year-round event programming and community development to diversify revenue through premium seating, digital assets, and media integrations.[46] These initiatives reflect a causal focus on measurable uplift in attendance and deal values, positioning franchises for sustained valuation growth amid evolving media landscapes.[47]
Performance outcomes and achievements
Under Harris's ownership since 2011, the Philadelphia 76ers advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2019, marking a significant postseason milestone following the rebuilding "Process" era, and qualified for the playoffs in seven consecutive seasons from 2018 to 2024.[48][49] The franchise's value has grown substantially, from an approximate $450 million at acquisition to $5.45 billion as of October 2025, reflecting an average annual appreciation exceeding 20% driven by on-court competitiveness and market expansions like the January 2025 joint venture announcement for a new South Philadelphia arena set to open by 2030.[50][42][51]
For the New Jersey Devils, acquired in 2013 for $320 million, Harris oversaw investments yielding a franchise-best 52 wins in the 2022-23 regular season—their strongest performance since 2011—and a return to the playoffs after a four-year absence, advancing to the second round before elimination.[52][53] This on-ice progress correlated with valuation growth to $2 billion by late 2024, including a 47% year-over-year increase reported in October 2024, underscoring effective capital allocation in player development and facilities.[54][55]
The Washington Commanders, purchased in July 2023 for $6.05 billion, demonstrated rapid operational turnaround in the 2024 NFL season, achieving their best regular-season finish since 1991 with a playoff berth and first postseason victory in 20 years via a wild-card win, followed by a divisional round appearance.[56][57] These results, amid a January 2025 playoff contention streak, propelled the team's value to $7.6 billion by August 2025, validating the distressed-asset acquisition through empirical metrics like improved win totals and facility upgrades.[58][59]
Criticisms and operational challenges
Harris's ownership of the Washington Commanders has faced scrutiny over facility conditions inherited from prior owner Dan Snyder, with the NFL Players Association's 2023 report card—released in March 2024—assigning failing grades across multiple categories, including an F for locker rooms and treatment of families, amid ongoing leaks and maintenance issues that persisted into the 2023 season.[60] [61] These problems stemmed from years of deferred upkeep under Snyder, delaying full remediation despite Harris's $6.05 billion acquisition in July 2023, though subsequent NFLPA surveys showed marked improvement, rising to 11th overall by the 2025 report after targeted upgrades.[62]
Philadelphia 76ers fans have criticized Harris for prioritizing revenue generation over competitive success, exemplified by sharp ticket price increases—such as a reported 20% hike for some season tickets—and a shift toward corporate sales that alienated local supporters, coinciding with the team's first-round playoff exit in 2023 following James Harden's departure.[63] [64] Perceptions of Harris's absenteeism, attributed to his divided attention across franchises like the Commanders, fueled backlash, with ESPN analyst Zach Lowe in September 2023 decrying a decade of "chaos" in Sixers management under Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, including roster instability despite high franchise valuations exceeding $4 billion.[65] [66] Such critiques, however, overlook cyclical NBA market dynamics, where the Sixers maintained league-leading revenue streams amid Embiid's MVP-level play but faltered due to injury risks rather than isolated ownership lapses.[67]
The New Jersey Devils experienced operational headwinds post their 2022-23 playoff run, regressing to a last-place Metropolitan Division finish in 2023-24 with a 38-39-5 record amid goaltending inconsistencies and defensive lapses, prompting questions about Harris's multi-team portfolio diluting focus since acquiring majority control in August 2013.[53] Arena lease negotiations at Prudential Center extended into 2025, resolving with a long-term deal in January but highlighting revenue-sharing tensions with the NHL and local stakeholders, though performance dips aligned more with roster youth and cap constraints than systemic mismanagement, as evidenced by a rebound to playoff contention in 2024-25.[57]
Business controversies
Disputes at Apollo Global Management
In January 2022, Leon Black, co-founder and former chairman of Apollo Global Management, accused Josh Harris of orchestrating a "coup and smear campaign" to remove him from the firm as revenge for Harris being passed over as CEO in 2017, when Marc Rowan was selected instead.[68] [69] Black's claims, detailed in legal filings related to his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, alleged that Harris exploited these associations to undermine Black's position and advance his own leadership ambitions.[70] Harris denied the accusations, describing them as "unhinged," "baseless," and "desperate," and emphasized that any tensions stemmed from substantive strategic disagreements, particularly regarding the integration of Athene Holding Ltd. following Apollo's planned merger.[71] [72]
Harris's departure from day-to-day roles at Apollo was announced on May 20, 2021, and formalized in early 2022 upon completion of the $11 billion all-stock merger with Athene, aligning with predefined governance terms rather than performance deficiencies or personal vendettas.[19] [73] No lawsuits were initiated by Harris against Apollo or its principals, and he retained significant equity stakes in the firm, signaling ongoing alignment of interests over irreconcilable conflict.[74] Black's subsequent conspiracy lawsuit against Harris and others was dismissed by a federal judge in Manhattan in June 2022 for failing to state viable claims under racketeering laws, with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the dismissal in March 2023, underscoring the evidentiary weaknesses in Black's narrative of orchestrated revenge.[75] [76]
Apollo's internal culture had long been characterized by observers as cutthroat, with intense meetings and a meritocratic intensity rooted in its founding ethos, contributing to perceptions of sharp-elbowed dealmaking.[77] [78] Harris, however, advocated for reforms toward more collaborative practices during his tenure, efforts that aligned with the firm's post-merger stability under Rowan and Harris's subsequent success in launching 26North Partners in 2022, which has managed billions in assets without analogous internal upheavals.[79] These outcomes suggest that merger-related strategic frictions, rather than personal grudges, more causally explain the disputes, countering media emphases on dramatic interpersonal motives unsupported by litigation or divestitures.[80]
Tensions from personal investments in sports
In the years preceding his departure from Apollo Global Management in January 2022, Josh Harris's oversight of personal sports investments, particularly in the Philadelphia 76ers (acquired in 2011) and New Jersey Devils (acquired in 2013), generated internal frictions at the firm, according to accounts from former employees. These subordinates reported that Harris often prioritized sports-related matters during Apollo work hours, including fielding calls about team operations amid firm meetings, which some viewed as diverting focus from core private equity mandates.[81][82]
Such distractions were confined to perceptions among staff and did not involve Apollo resources, as Harris's sports holdings were financed separately through his family office and Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE), the entity he co-founded in 2017 to manage these assets. No documented evidence exists of measurable harm to Apollo's operations or financial results during this period; the firm reported record inflows in 2020 and sustained growth in assets under management into 2021, reflecting robust performance amid Harris's involvement.[83]
Harris's diversified pursuits ultimately yielded substantial returns in sports, underscoring potential synergies from cross-domain expertise rather than inherent conflicts. For instance, the New Jersey Devils' franchise value rose from a $320 million purchase price in 2013 to $2.1 billion by December 2024, exceeding a sixfold increase and demonstrating effective value creation in non-traditional investments typical of high-net-worth principals. These outcomes align with patterns among elite investors balancing multiple portfolios, where anecdotal staff concerns over attention allocation rarely correlate with underperformance and often precede successful pivots to specialized vehicles like Harris's post-Apollo family office, 26North Partners.[52]
Personal life
Family and residences
Josh Harris has been married to Marjorie Rubin Harris since 1995.[84][85] The couple has five children—three sons (Stuart, Thomas, and Pierce) and two daughters (Hannah and Bridget)—and maintains a low public profile focused on family privacy.[86][87]
The Harris family resides primarily in Miami, Florida, aligning with the 2022 launch of Harris's firm 26North Partners in the region.[5][22] In 2021, Harris acquired a waterfront mansion at 2060 North Bay Road in Miami Beach for $32 million, featuring extensive amenities including a guest house and courtyard, reflecting strategic investments in secure, efficient family living spaces rather than extravagant displays.[88][89] Ties to the Philadelphia area persist due to Harris's ownership of the 76ers, supporting periodic relocations for business efficiency while prioritizing South Florida as the core base post-departure from Apollo Global Management.[82]
Philanthropic endeavors and public commitments
Harris co-founded Harris Philanthropies in 2014 with his wife Marjorie, establishing a platform dedicated to youth and community development through investments in sports programming, wellness initiatives, and disease prevention efforts.[90] The organization has prioritized after-school sports access, supporting programs that annually engage approximately 15,000 youth in physical activity and skill-building activities designed to foster discipline and self-reliance rather than dependency-oriented aid models.[11] These efforts, often tied to Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment properties like the Philadelphia 76ers, have included targeted community outreach yielding localized outcomes, such as expanded youth participation in basketball and leadership programs in Philadelphia and Israel, though evaluations indicate impacts remain confined to urban and community-specific scales without evidence of broader systemic transformations.[91]
Harris has directed substantial resources toward educational and health initiatives at his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania. In 2019, he and his wife donated $10 million to the Wharton School to enhance learning and engagement in alternative investments, funding faculty research and curriculum development.[92] Additional gifts include $1 million in 2018 to the Penn Quakers wrestling program for facility upgrades and athlete support, and over $1 million in 2022 to Penn Medicine's Wharton Fund for Health to advance research on chronic disease management.[93][94] These contributions emphasize practical skill-building and health outcomes over expansive social engineering, aligning with a pattern of philanthropy that privileges measurable returns in targeted sectors like athletics and entrepreneurship training.
In 2025, Harris and his wife committed $5 million to establish the Harris Family Athletic Training Center at The Field School in Washington, D.C., aimed at enhancing student wellness and physical education infrastructure.[95] Publicly, their giving has earned recognition in outlets like TIME's 2025 Philanthropy list, highlighting consistent support for youth sports as a vehicle for community cohesion and personal development, though critics of large-scale philanthropy note that such programs often yield incremental rather than transformative results due to their localized focus and reliance on ongoing funding.[96] Harris's commitments reflect a preference for Jewish community-linked causes, including Israeli youth sports leagues like the 48ers, which integrate academics and athletics to address socioeconomic disparities through self-empowerment rather than redistributive aid.[97]
Disclaimer: This profile is based on publicly available information. No endorsement or affiliation is implied.
Join UHNWI direct Affiliate Program
Earn Passive Income by Sharing Verified Contact Information of Billionaires, Centi-Millionaires, and Multi-Millionaires on the UHNWI Direct Platform
Maximize your earnings potential by sharing direct and validated contact information of the ultra-wealthy, including billionaires, centi-millionaires, and multi-millionaires. Join the UHNWI Direct platform and tap into a lucrative passive income stream by providing valuable data to those seeking high-net-worth connections. Start earning today with UHNWI Direct.
You may also be interested in reviewing other UHNWIs profiles.
To find the person you want to contact, start typing their name or other relevant tags in the search bar.
Please note: Our database contains over 10,000 direct contacts of UHNWIs, and it is highly likely that the individual you are seeking is already included. However, creating individual profiles for each contact is a meticulous and time-intensive process, So, if you are unable to find the profile of the individual you are looking for, please click here.
Filter by Net Worth: All | Billionaires | Centi-Millionaires | Multi-Millionaires
Filter by Location: All | USA | Canada | Europe | UK | Russia & CIS | Asia | MEIA | Australia | Latin America
Filter by Age: 1920-1930 | 1930-1940 | 1940-1950 | 1950-1960 | 1960-1970 | 1970-1980 | 1980-1990 | 1990-2000
Related People
UHNWI direct
