Tony Ressler

Antony P. Ressler (born October 12, 1960) is an American billionaire businessman. He co-founded the private equity firms Apollo Global Management in 1990,^[1] and Ares Management in 1997.^[2] As of May 2024, his net worth was estimated by Forbes at $11.3 billion.^[3]

Ressler was born in 1960 to a Jewish family,^[4][5] one of five children of Dorothy and Ira Ressler.^[6] His father was an attorney and World War II veteran.^[6] Ressler earned a BSFS from Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service and an MBA from Columbia Business School.^[7] After graduating, he worked at Drexel Burnham Lambert, eventually reaching senior vice president in the high yield bond department with responsibility for the new issue/syndicate desk.^[7]

In 1990, on the heels of the collapse of Drexel Burnham Lambert, he co-founded the private equity firm Apollo Global Management with Leon Black, Drexel's managing director, head of the Mergers & Acquisitions Group, and co-head of the Corporate Finance Department; John Hannan, Drexel's former co-director of international finance; Craig Cogut, a lawyer who worked with Drexel's high-yield division in Los Angeles; Arthur Bilger, the former head of the Drexel's corporate finance department; and Marc Rowan, Josh Harris and Michael Gross, all of whom worked under Black in the mergers and acquisitions department.^{[8][9][10][11]} In 1997, he co-founded Ares Management with former Apollo Global Management co-worker John H. Kissick and Bennett Rosenthal, who joined the group from the global leveraged finance group at Merrill Lynch.^[12]

Ressler is a member of the executive committee of the board of directors of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; finance chair and member of the executive committee of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; a board member of Campbell Hall Episcopal School in Studio City, California; and one of the founding members of the board and finance chair of the Painted Turtle Camp, an organization that takes children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses on camping trips. Ressler is a supporter of military veterans through the work of The Greatest Generations Foundation.^[7]

In 2005, he belonged to an investment group that made a successful bid led by Mark Attanasio to purchase Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Brewers.^[13]

Since June 2015, he has been the principal owner of the NBA Atlanta Hawks basketball team, when he purchased the team for an estimated US$730 million.^[14] It was ultimately sold to him for $850 million.^[15][16]

To purchase the Hawks, Ressler formed a group that includes former NBA player Grant Hill, Sara Blakely, Jesse Itzler, Steven Price, and Rick Schnall.^[17][18]

On June 16, 1989, he married actress Jami Gertz.^[4][19][20] They live in Los Angeles,^[3] and have 3 sons. Gertz-Ressler High Academy, a member of Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, is named after the couple.^[21] They are members of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple.^[4]

Ressler's sister, Broadway producer Debra Ressler, is married to Apollo co-founder Leon Black.^[22] His brother, Richard Ressler, is a principal and founder of CIM Investment management.^[23]