John Zito is the Co-President of Apollo Asset Management, where he helped transition the firm from a traditional private equity model into a principal-investing institution following its merger with Athene. He is known for challenging consensus views on private software valuations and arguing that private credit serves as a safer alternative during periods of macroeconomic volatility. This collection organizes his direct commentary on asset management strategy, the realities of AI disruption, and the mechanics of modern credit markets.

Visual summary of operating lessons from John Zito.

Part 1: The New Era of Private Credit

  1. On market taxonomy: "We need to make private credit more like French fries... people need to understand the different flavors and risks." — Source: Lewis Enterprises Blog
  2. On the core business: "It's 95% of the business, which is providing very large investment grade deals." — Source: Bloomberg Invest
  3. On transaction scale: "We've done 50 transactions in the last 24 months... Multi-billion dollar transactions on 100, 200, $500 billion market cap companies." — Source: Private Markets Insights
  4. On shifting risk paradigms: "It's just a totally different risk profile compared to what most people historically associated with private lending." — Source: Bloomberg Invest
  5. On market headwinds: "The next 12 to 18 months will probably be more difficult." — Source: Livemint
  6. On systemic durability: "Recent waves of fund withdrawals are normal cyclical movements, not systemic issues." — Source: Livemint
  7. On the sweet spot: "Private credit offers a sweet spot of enhanced yield over public benchmarks while maintaining rigorous credit quality." — Source: Apollo Insights
  8. On financing infrastructure: "We are seeing a fundamental rewiring of how large-scale infrastructure is financed away from traditional banks." — Source: Invest Like the Best
  9. On the duration of turmoil: "The current turmoil in some segments of private credit could persist for up to 18 months." — Source: S&P Global Podcast
  10. On defining the asset class: "Private credit is often used as a vague, catch-all term. We must better segment and appreciate the various expressions of the asset class." — Source: Lewis Enterprises Blog

Part 2: Software, AI, and Valuation Realities

  1. On private market marks: "I literally think all the marks are wrong." — Source: Illuminem
  2. On the software industry's future: "The real risk is – is software dead?" — Source: Colorado AI News
  3. On AI's disruptive threat: "Companies in the wrong position regarding the new AI-led regime could see recovery values as low as 20 to 40 cents on the dollar." — Source: Yahoo Finance
  4. On industry hubris: "There is an arrogance across the private equity and credit sectors regarding the carrying values of software deals." — Source: Substack
  5. On reinventing tools: "Would you use a screwdriver, or invent a new one?" — Source: Colorado AI News
  6. On vintage vulnerabilities: "Assets acquired between 2018 and 2022 are often of lower quality than public competitors and may face significant losses." — Source: Yahoo Finance
  7. On the myth of stable growth: "Artificial intelligence is forcing a reevaluation of the software sector's long-standing assumptions of stable growth and premium pricing." — Source: Futunn
  8. On the marginal cost of software: "As the marginal cost of producing software trends toward zero, the market's valuation logic is being fundamentally reshaped." — Source: Apollo Insights
  9. On competitive moats: "The disruptive impact of AI is stripping away the defensive moats that software companies have relied on for the past decade." — Source: Bloomberg Talks
  10. On market corrections: "The private equity community must prepare for a reckoning in how they value their aging software portfolios." — Source: Illuminem

Part 3: The Athene Merger and Principal Investing

  1. On structural evolution: "We're building effectively a more merchant-focused, principal-focused, not agent-focused asset manager." — Source: Invest Like the Best
  2. On client alignment: "By acting as a principal investor that deploys its own capital alongside client funds, we create greater alignment with clients." — Source: Private Markets Insights
  3. On balance sheet risk: "We have a significant portion of our own balance sheet at risk, contrasting with the traditional asset management model that primarily collects fees." — Source: Wave
  4. On the Athene integration: "The merger with Athene shifted us from a traditional private equity firm to a large-scale, credit-oriented financial institution." — Source: Chronicle Journal
  5. On long-duration liabilities: Zito frames long-duration capital as central to financing infrastructure, energy, semiconductors, digital systems, and other projects whose scale and tenor public markets cannot easily absorb alone. — Reference: Apollo Bloomberg Invest recap on long-duration capital needs
  6. On moving past the agent model: "Merely acting as an agent collecting fees on third-party assets is no longer sufficient for the scale we want to achieve." — Source: Invest Like the Best
  7. On the convergence of markets: "We are witnessing the convergence of private and public markets in how capital is sourced and deployed." — Source: Wave
  8. On scaling operations: "Integrating insurance and retirement assets allows us to underwrite complex transactions that traditional banks cannot touch." — Source: S&P Global Podcast
  9. On strategic transformation: "This was a transformative move that fundamentally rewired how we source capital and price risk." — Source: Buy Side Digest

Part 4: Redefining the Asset Management Model

  1. On the limitations of traditional PE: "The traditional private equity buyout model is just one small expression of what an alternative asset manager can do today." — Source: Invest Like the Best
  2. On capital origination: "Our ability to originate our own assets is what separates a modern principal-focused firm from a legacy allocator." — Source: S&P Global Podcast
  3. On the banking transition: "We are not trying to be a bank, but we are stepping into the void left by banks as they retreat from large-scale corporate lending." — Source: Bloomberg Live
  4. On underwriting standards: "When you invest your own balance sheet, the underwriting standards inherently become more rigorous." — Source: Private Markets Insights
  5. On market positioning: "We position ourselves not merely as a participant in capital markets, but as an architect reshaping how they function." — Source: Invest Like the Best
  6. On the ecosystem approach: "It’s about building a self-sustaining ecosystem where origination, capital, and risk management all feed into each other." — Source: Wave
  7. On the obsolescence of silos: "The old silos of public versus private, or equity versus debt, are becoming irrelevant to the ultimate owners of capital." — Source: Futunn
  8. On continuous evolution: "An asset manager today must continuously reinvent its capital supply chain to stay relevant." — Source: S&P Global Podcast
  9. On redefining scale: "Scale in asset management is no longer strictly about AUM; it’s about the breadth and depth of your origination capabilities." — Source: Bloomberg Invest

Part 5: Cultivating Unconventional Culture

  1. On hiring criteria: "We want people who are willing to test some of those norms and just be outside-the-box thinkers." — Source: Puck News
  2. On the Apollo Credit Olympics: "It is a skill-style event designed to foster unconventional thinking and camaraderie within the credit team." — Source: Puck News
  3. On childhood inspiration: "The relay race involving greased codfish was inspired by my childhood experiences in Milbridge, Maine." — Source: Puck News
  4. On liberal arts value: "My liberal arts education at Amherst College was instrumental in fostering an out-of-the-box mindset." — Source: Futunn
  5. On testing boundaries: "We encourage our teams to actively challenge the conventional wisdom of Wall Street." — Source: S&P Global Podcast
  6. On team dynamics: "Building a high-performing team requires a culture where creative problem-solving is rewarded over rigid conformity." — Source: S&P Global Podcast
  7. On cultural rituals: "Events like the Credit Olympics break down hierarchical barriers and build trust under pressure." — Source: Puck News
  8. On intellectual agility: "The modern credit market demands intellectual agility, not purely analytical horsepower." — Source: Invest Like the Best
  9. On embracing eccentricity: "We don't mind a bit of eccentricity if it leads to better, more differentiated investment outcomes." — Source: S&P Global Podcast

Part 6: Risk, Volatility, and Capital Protection

  1. On recognizing safety: "Everyone is acknowledging we will be in a higher-volatility regime, but they are not acknowledging credit is actually the typical safer place to be." — Source: Milken Institute
  2. On structural advantages: "Senior secured credit offers a structural advantage that protects capital when equity valuations contract." — Source: Bloomberg Talks
  3. On the new volatility regime: "We are transitioning into a sustained period of higher macroeconomic volatility where capital protection is paramount." — Source: Omny FM
  4. On pricing risk: "When volatility spikes, the ability to act as a principal allows us to price risk accurately when others are panicking." — Source: Bloomberg Live
  5. On the illusion of public liquidity: "The perceived liquidity of public markets often vanishes precisely when you need it most during a volatile regime." — Source: Milken Institute
  6. On disciplined underwriting: "You cannot compromise on the fundamental discipline of underwriting just because capital is abundant." — Source: S&P Global Podcast
  7. On macroeconomic shifts: "The era of zero interest rates masked a lot of underwriting mistakes that higher volatility will expose." — Source: Bloomberg Television
  8. On downside protection: "Our primary mandate in this environment is constructing portfolios with obsessive attention to downside protection." — Source: Milken Institute
  9. On significant risk transfers: "Significant risk transfer deals are becoming a critical tool for banks to manage capital in a volatile regulatory environment." — Source: Bloomberg Live
  10. On market dislocations: "Higher volatility regimes create the precise dislocations where disciplined private capital can generate outsized returns." — Source: S&P Global Podcast

Part 7: Democratizing Access for Retail Investors

  1. On structural inevitability: "Bringing private credit to retail investors via ETFs is a structural inevitability rather than a gimmick." — Source: Private Markets Insights
  2. On retail access: "This allows retail portfolios to access return potential previously reserved for institutional investors." — Source: Bloomberg Invest
  3. On managing liquidity: "The key to democratizing private markets is ensuring that the liquidity mechanisms are managed correctly and transparently." — Source: Bloomberg Invest
  4. On portfolio construction: Zito and State Street frame retail private-credit products as a way to give individual investors incremental yield and diversification through familiar ETF wrappers with liquidity and transparency features. — Reference: Apollo Bloomberg Invest recap on retail access, yield, and diversification
  5. On the ETF vehicle: "The ETF structure is proving to be an efficient bridge between illiquid private assets and retail demand." — Source: Private Markets Insights
  6. On educational hurdles: "The biggest barrier to retail adoption isn't product design; it's educating the market on what these assets actually are." — Source: Bloomberg Invest
  7. On the shifting retail mindset: "We are seeing a generational shift in how individual investors view the necessity of alternatives in their portfolios." — Source: Apollo Insights
  8. On regulatory alignment: "Democratization must be done in lockstep with regulators to ensure investor protections are not compromised." — Source: Bloomberg Invest
  9. On the scale of the retail market: Apollo describes the expansion of private credit into retail markets as an important evolution, with core-plus products combining public and private credit as credit allocations rise. — Reference: Apollo Bloomberg Invest recap on retail private-credit expansion

Part 8: Artistry at Scale and the Future of Finance

  1. On defining the concept: "Artistry at scale is about maintaining the craftsmanship of bespoke deal-making while deploying tens of billions of dollars." — Source: Invest Like the Best
  2. On the AI infrastructure boom: Zito says AI, power, infrastructure, and chips require multiple trillions of dollars of bespoke, long-duration capital, and Apollo links private credit to financing the next generation of AI and semiconductor infrastructure. — Reference: Apollo Bloomberg Invest recap on AI, power, infrastructure, and chips
  3. On institutional growth: "Building a major financial institution requires balancing the entrepreneurial spirit of a boutique with the rigorous processes of a global bank." — Source: Wave
  4. On the future of credit: Zito emphasizes Apollo's capacity to originate billion-dollar-plus corporate loans and asset-backed finance, while Apollo's ABF materials describe private direct origination, flexible capital, and bespoke solutions for issuers. — Reference: Apollo Bloomberg TV recap on corporate loans and asset-backed finance
  5. On scaling culture: "The hardest part of scaling is ensuring that the artistry of the investment process isn't diluted by bureaucracy." — Source: Invest Like the Best
  6. On data and technology: The Invest Like the Best episode notes frame technology and data management as tools for tailored investment advice and optimized decision-making, while still tying the discussion to Apollo's large information base and human judgment. — Reference: PodPulse notes on Zito episode technology and data-management themes
  7. On the next decade: "The next decade of finance will be defined by those who can bridge the gap between permanent capital and complex, long-term economic needs." — Source: S&P Global Podcast
  8. On global mega-trends: "Our strategy is entirely oriented around financing the global mega-trends: energy transition, digital infrastructure, and retirement demographics." — Source: S&P Global Podcast
  9. On the ultimate goal: "We are not just trying to be a participant in the market; we want to be the foundation upon which the future of capital markets is built." — Source: Invest Like the Best