Apollo's Marc Rowan on his $1bn Mubadala deal, AI valuations and Anthropic's IPO

Founder explains why he sees less risk in the region than a year ago, and why AI can be both real and overvalued

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Apollo's Marc Rowan on his $1bn Mubadala bet, Gulf risk and the AI bubble

Apollo Global Management has snapped up a 10 per cent stake in Mubadala Capital, investing slightly more than $1 billion to help the Abu Dhabi asset manager grow in North America.

For Marc Rowan, co-founder and chief executive of Apollo, which manages more than $1 trillion in assets, the deal is part of a strategy of backing like-minded asset managers, even those that compete with his own firm.

In this exclusive interview for The Inside Brief, recorded in Abu Dhabi on the day the deal was announced, Mr Rowan speaks to Manus Cranny about the partnership and why he describes the competition between the two firms as healthy.

Mr Rowan also explains why, despite the conflict in the region, he believes the Gulf carries less risk today than it did a year ago. He sets out why Apollo plans to increase its investment in the UAE as the region prepares to spend $1 trillion hardening its infrastructure and building alternative routes.

He discusses Anthropic’s planned $2 trillion initial public offering, why passive investing has changed how the largest listings are priced, and how he expects a significant AI-related event to eventually prompt regulation.

The conversation also turns to the credit case for AI, from chip financing to the record borrowing by hyper scalers, and why Mr Rowan worries most about short-term political decision-making in the US.

He reflects on whether AI is a bubble, and why both Blackstone’s Jon Gray and Citadel’s Ken Griffin can be right.

The Inside Brief with Manus Cranny is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other major platforms.

Updated:

October 27, 2026, 1:57 PM

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