Josh Harris (businessman)

Joshua Jordan Harris (born December 1964) is an American investor, sports team owner, and philanthropist.

He is a co-founder of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management and a managing partner of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers, the NHL's New Jersey Devils, and the NFL's Washington Commanders.

Harris is also a general partner of the English football club Crystal Palace and owns a minority stake in Joe Gibbs Racing.

He has an estimated net worth of around US$9 billion.

Harris was born and raised in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Joshua Jordan Harris was born in December 1964 in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

He grew up playing several sports and considers them as having developed his work ethic.

He cited his favorite as wrestling after winning a summer camp tournament at the age of nine.

Harris enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences in 1982 after graduating from The Field School in Washington, D.C. He transferred to the university's Wharton School of business as a freshman due to his affinity for statistics, and graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics in 1986.

As a freshman, Harris represented the Penn Quakers as a 118-pound collegiate wrestler and once matched with future Olympic gold medalist Bobby Weaver.

He is also a member of the Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternities.

He managed lemonade stands in Washington, D.C., in locations such as Farragut North station and the National Zoo during his freshman and sophomore summer vacations.

He graduated with a degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1986 before earning an MBA from Harvard Business School (HBS), working two years at the former investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert in between.

Harris moved to New York City in 1986 to work at the Wall Street investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert as a financial analyst in their mergers and acquisitions department.

He founded Apollo with Leon Black and Marc Rowan in 1990 and managed its daily operations until leaving in 2022 to focus on sports investments, frequently in partnership with David Blitzer.

He left after two years to attend Harvard Business School (HBS), graduating with an MBA in 1990 as a Baker Loeb Scholar, an honor given to the top 5% of the school's departing class.

The same year, Drexel filed for bankruptcy due to engaging in illegal junk bond activity amid an ongoing recession.

Harris worked two months at Blackstone before leaving to establish the private equity firm Apollo Global Management with former Drexel partners Leon Black and Marc Rowan later that year.

In 2008, Harris led a $2 billion investment into the multinational chemical company LyondellBasell in 2008, which he sold in November 2013 for a profit of $9.6 billion, one of the largest gains in private equity history.

Harris began contemplating investing in sports after meeting senior Blackstone executive David Blitzer in 2008 while working in London.

In April 2009, Harris paid $30 million in a settlement to Huntsman Corporation after Apollo was sued for backing out of a merger with them the previous year.

Harris headed investment groups that acquired the 76ers in 2011, the Devils and the Prudential Center in 2013, and the Commanders and Commanders Field in 2023.

Those talks led to the pair forming an investment group that, in 2011, bought the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from Comcast Spectacor for $280 million.

Other minor investors included Art Wrubel, Jason Levien, Adam Aron, Martin Geller, David Heller, James Lassiter, Marc Leder, Michael Rubin, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Erick Thohir.

Harris presided over an era in 76ers history known as "The Process", in which the team tanked for better NBA draft lottery odds.

The position had been made available after Leon Black announced he would be stepping down due to an investigation finding he had paid $158 million to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein between 2012 and 2017 for advice on taxes and estate planning.

He stepped down as senior managing director at Apollo in January 2022 and remained on their board of directors until his term ended in October.

The same year, Black included Harris in a civil racketeering lawsuit, alleging that he led a group within Apollo attempting to tarnish his reputation after his ties to Epstein were reported.

Harris denied the claims, with federal judge Paul Engelmayer dismissing the suit that June for lack of evidence.

Black would appeal before the dismissal was upheld in March 2023.

Harris founded the alternative asset firm 26North in September 2022, with it holding $9.5 billion in assets by the end of the year.

Harris is on the board of trustees of Mount Sinai Health System, Wharton, and Harvard Business School, and serves on the Council on Foreign Relations.

He previously served on the Investor Advisory Committee on Financial Markets for the New York Federal Reserve, as vice president and treasurer of the Allen-Stevenson School, and on the board of the United States Olympic Committee.

His family office, HRS Management, was the largest investor in the American political newspaper The Hill until selling to Nexstar Media Group in August 2021.

In 2022, Harris invested $10 million in Mosaic Development Partners, a Philadelphia-based real estate company, and formed a joint venture with Canvas Property Group through HMS Management to buy more than $1 billion worth of apartments.

In 2023, he and investors Mark Penn, James Tisch, and Thomas Peterffy contributed $50 million to a startup fund for The Messenger, a now defunct American news website.

Other companies founded by him include Harris Philanthropies with his wife Marjorie in 2014, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment with Blitzer in 2017, and the alternative assets firm 26North in 2022.

Harris sits on the board of the Mount Sinai Health System, Wharton, and HBS, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and formerly served as treasurer of the Allen-Stevenson School.

Harris was among several businessmen in 2017 that met with the Trump administration as advisors for their $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan, with Trump advisor Jared Kushner considering him for a potential White House job.

In May 2021, he announced he was stepping down from his day-to-day responsibilities at Apollo after being passed over as CEO for Marc Rowan, with his large personal focus on sports investments also reportedly becoming a source of tension within the company.