Episode summary
Apollo Inks $2.6 Billion Financing Deal With NY Yankees | Bloomberg Intelligence
Bloomberg Intelligence
· · 21 min · Hosts: Paul Sweeney, Alexis Christoforous · Guests: Randall Williams, Ed Ludlow, Daniela Sirtori, Denitsa Tsekova
Summary
Apollo’s $2.6 billion financing for the New York Yankees underscored how private equity is moving deeper into sports, with the deal structured as a mix of debt and equity while the Steinbrenner family stays in control. Randall Williams said the money is likely about liquidity and refinancing rather than a shift in control, and he suggested the timing may also matter if MLB labor talks turn into a lockout next year.
The discussion then shifted to Nvidia and the growing appetite for AI infrastructure financing. The host and Ed Ludlow described a plan in which Apollo, Blackstone, BlackRock and Brookfield help source up to $500 billion by channeling outside capital into special purpose vehicles backed by Nvidia compute. Ludlow argued that the setup is designed to make server capacity an investable asset class, while still leaving the money at a distance from Nvidia itself.
Chipotle’s response to a salmonella scare showed how restaurant chains now use detailed supply-chain tracking to isolate problems faster. Daniela Sirtori said the company identified jalapeños as the likely culprit, pulled them quickly, and used digital tracing tools to map ingredients from distributor to restaurant.
Denitsa Tsekova then warned that leveraged ETFs, though only 2% of ETF assets, account for roughly a fifth of trading volume. She said the products are now heavily used around volatile AI names and that the main investor risk is volatility drag when they are held longer than intended.
Key takeaways
- Apollo’s $2.6 billion Yankees deal is a mix of debt and equity, with the Steinbrenner family still in control, according to Randall Williams.
- Williams said private equity in sports is mostly about providing liquidity and refinancing, not running teams.
- Ed Ludlow said Nvidia’s $500 billion financing push is meant to turn compute into an investable infrastructure asset class using outside capital.
- Chipotle’s food-safety system helped it pinpoint jalapeños as the likely source of the salmonella issue and replace them quickly, Daniela Sirtori said.
- Denitsa Tsekova said leveraged ETFs are only 2% of assets but about a fifth of trading volume, and prolonged holding can magnify losses through volatility drag.
Notable quotes
“the money is going to go. It's a mix of debt and equity”
“private equity across sports is not they're not decision makers. They are cash providers for liquidity, for debt, for stadium financing, for all of those issues”
“the pitch for Nvidia is to take Nvidia's compute platform. Literally rows and rows of servers and make them an investable infrastructure asset class of their own”
“the company was able to say like, "We think that the problem is the jalapenños in the guacamole." And then they were able to pull them”
How the episode opens
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Really cool story today out in the business of sports. This is another example of private equity or institutional capital in general uh investing in a professional sports in this one. It's Apollo uh inks a $2.6 billion financing deal with the New York Yankees. How about that? Randle Williams, Bloomberg business of sports reporter joins us here. Um seems like a big number. What what do we know about this investment?
Well, the money is going to go. It's a mix of debt and equity. Now, the exact split isn't known, but you have to wonder what the valuation of of this is because of the fact that MLB rules permit private equity firms to own up to 15%.
So, if this is a let's say that it's half of equity, so $1.3 billion and it's 10%. That's a $13 billion valuation. Now, of course, I'm just doing that math off the top.
Nice math for a reporter likely for a journalist. That's like bank. But, uh, we don't know. We don't know. This could be 15 billion. It could be 16. It could be lower. We don't know. — But at the end of the day, the Stein Brener family still in control here of the New York Yankees.
Very much in control. Uh private equity across sports is not they're not decision makers. They are cash providers for liquidity, for debt, for stadium financing, for all of those issues. That's what private equity is in sports for for now.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- sports financing
- ai infrastructure funding
- leveraged etf trading
- restaurant food safety automation
- tech and semiconductors capital markets
Companies and tickers mentioned
- APO
- NVDA
- BX
- BLK
- BAM
- CMG
- Apollo Global Management
- New York Yankees
- Nvidia
- Blackstone
- BlackRock
- Brookfield Asset Management
- Chipotle Mexican Grill
Watch the episode
Watch “Apollo Inks $2.6 Billion Financing Deal With NY Yankees | Bloomberg Intelligence” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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