Private equity mogul Marc Rowan is having better luck investing his own money than the firm’s cash.
Rowan, a co-founder of Apollo Global Management, personally invested in a $60 million financing round for Beats Music in March 2013 and gained a seat on the young company’s board.
The value of his investment likely more than doubled last week when Apple agreed to pay $3 billion for the Beats family, including the Beats by Dr. Dre headphones and the sister streaming music service.
Apollo doesn’t make venture or tech investments in companies like Beats, so there was no conflict of interest with Rowan’s investment, said a source close to Apollo.
Still, Rowan’s success with the Beats deal stands in stark contrast to his biggest gamble at Apollo.
As one of the firm’s senior managing directors, Rowan sits on the board of struggling Caesars Entertainment, the nation’s biggest casino chain.
Apollo and TPG teamed up on the $30 billion leveraged buyout of Caesars, formerly known as Harrah’s, in 2008 and are still trying to work their way out of the deal.
Rowan has led roughly 50 transactions for Caesars, including a controversial move this year to shift assets between the company and related entities in a bid to keep the money-losing business afloat.
An Apollo spokesman declined comment.
Meanwhile, Rowan reaped more than $70 million last month from selling down his 13.7 percent stake in publicly listed Apollo, to 12.9 percent.
Aside from Apollo, Rowan has a $540 million family office, RWN Management LLC, and owns more than 75 percent of the firm, according to regulatory filings.
The firm, run by CEO Ken Glassman, said Rowan takes a hands-off approach to avoid conflicts with his role at Apollo. In addition, RWN said it runs larger investments past Apollo.