Business

Top partner bails on Apollo Global

The talent bench at Leon Black’s Apollo Global Management is getting grayer by the minute.

Scott Ross, 33, in the last several days became the latest top partner to leave the high-flying private-equity firm after it overhauled its compensation scheme, The Post has learned.

Ross was part of a newer generation at Apollo being groomed to lead the buyout giant, which has just started to invest its latest $17.5 billion private-equity fund.

Ross’ resignation emerged the same day Apollo kicked off its two-day annual meeting with private-equity investors.

“They are getting lots of questions about departures, and Apollo is going to great lengths to demonstrate the depth of their bench,” said one source.

Since 2008, 44 percent of Apollo’s 27 private-equity partners under the age of 50 have either left or are planning to leave the firm, sources and company documents show.

They include Jordan Zaken, 39, who has been at Apollo since 1999, Stan Parker, 38, a telecom expert, and Ali Rashid, 37, a former Goldman banker.

Aside from Ross, Apollo’s David Abrams, who led its $5 billion non-performing loans business, is moving into a new position, sources said.

In recent months, Apollo has been firing partners while others, including Ross, are said to have resigned because of dissatisfaction with the firm’s new pay structure.

Apollo became the first of the big publicly traded private-equity firms to return profits to its senior partners in the form of stock instead of all cash.

The firm is paying partners working on its flagship fund up to one-third of their commissions — or the profits made from buying and selling companies — in Apollo’s publicly listed stock.

Moreover, the stock will not fully vest until three years after the successful sale of the company that earned the partner that commission.

Apollo is changing its pay structure to more closely resemble Wall Street investment banks at a time when it’s generating better returns than most of its rivals.

The changes do not impact Apollo’s three managing partners—Black, Josh Harris and Marc Rowan—who own much of the company’s listed stock and receive no fund commissions.

Ross had been with Apollo since 2004, and previously bought companies for Goldman Sachs.

In February, Ross led Apollo’s $1.3 billion leveraged buyout of CEC Entertainment, the parent of pizza chain Chuck E. Cheese.

He was also front and center in 2012, when Apollo completed the $700 million-plus buyout of water park operator Great Wolf Resort.

Apollo didn’t respond to an immediate request for comment. The person who answered Ross’ phone said, “He no longer works here.” His name has also been removed from Apollo’s Web site.