Following Recent Acquisitions, Private Equity Firm Apollo Ranks Among Largest US Employers

In the last year and a half, Apollo Global Management has almost doubled the total number of employees at companies it owns, growing from about 290,000 employees to over 550,000.

In May 2020, Apollo was the lead investor in a group that bought the majority of debt owed by airport baggage handler Swissport,[1] which has 45,000 workers. Apollo and other investors converted their debt investment into equity ownership of the company when it restructured in December 2020.[2]

Also in December 2020, Apollo invested $750 million in Alorica, a call-center operator with 100,000 workers.[3]

So far in 2021, Apollo has added another 118,000 workers through a number of transactions, including Michael’s craft stores (45,000)[4], the car rental company Hertz (28,000)[5], Verizon Media (10,000)[6], and Venetian Resorts and Casino in Las Vegas (11,200).[7]

In June 2021, the Apollo-owned LifePoint hospital chain acquired Kindred Healthcare, bringing the health care company’s total number of employees to around 77,000.[8]

This makes Apollo the fifth largest US-based employer globally behind Walmart, Amazon, FedEx,[9] and Warburg Pincus, another private equity firm, which recently acquired security firm G4S, giving it over 800,000 employees. (McDonalds[10] and Yum Brands[11] both have 1.5 million people working at their restaurants, but the overwhelming majority work at their franchisees.  Private equity firm Roark Capital, which recently acquired Dunkin Brands, has nearly a million workers at its companies and franchisees.)

Companies Owned by Apollo Global Management

Alorica

In December 2020, Apollo invested $750 million in Alorica, a call-center operator with 100,000 workers that had faced criticism from the Communications Worker of America (CWA).  In 2019, Alorica closed several call centers in the US, laying off thousands of workers,[12] and shifted operations to the Philippines, where it employs almost 50,000 workers serving US corporations like AT&T and Citi.[13]  Some Alorica workers in the Philippines report being paid less than $330 per month.[14]

Alorica’s “business model is all about creating a race-to-the-bottom for workers, by laying off US workers and exploiting workers overseas in places like the Philippines, where they keep wages rock bottom low and are virulently anti-union,” said CWA Vice President Linda Hinton in 2019, adding “It’s time we end the corporate offshoring and outsourcing model that hurts both U.S. workers and communities as well as their overseas counterparts.”[15]

Kindred Healthcare

In 2018, Apollo acquired the LifePoint hospital chain and then in June 2021 acquired Kindred Healthcare, which has a long history of alleged wage and hour violations:

• In 2021, Kindred agreed to pay $2 million to settle allegations that the company failed to pay workers the overtime wages they were owed.[16]

• In 2018, Kindred agreed to pay $12 million to settle a class action suit alleging that the company failed to pay some home health care workers minimum wage or to provide them required breaks under California law.[17] 

• In 2016, Kindred agreed to a $2.5 million settlement of a class action lawsuit alleging that Kindred failed to pay Personal Care Attendants the minimum wage and overtime pay and did not provide required meal and rest breaks.[18]

• In 2015, Kindred paid $16.5 million[19] to settle a class action lawsuit that alleged that Kindred with failed to pay overtime and failed to compensate workers for missed meal breaks.[20]

[1] https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/apollo-leads-distressed-investment-in-swissport-as-restructuring-looms-sources-2020-05-0

[2] https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-withdraws-Swissports-ratings-following-debt-restructuring–PR_437906

[3] https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201211005571/en/Alorica-Announces-750-Million-Refinancing-by-Apollo-Hybrid-Value

[4] “The Michaels Companies Enters Into a Definitive Agreement to Be Acquired by Funds Managed by Apollo Global Management,” Media release, Mar 3, 2021.

[5] “Hertz Leaves Bankruptcy, Taps Directors for New Board,” WSJ, Jun 30, 2021.

[6] “Verizon Media to be acquired by Apollo Funds,” Media release, May 3, 2021.

[7] “Apollo Funds to Acquire The Venetian Resort and Sands Expo and Convention Center Operating Company from Las Vegas Sands,” Media release, Mar 3, 2021.

[8] https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/hospitals/lifepoint-health-purchases-post-acute-services-company-kindred-healthcare-commits-to

[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_United_States%E2%80%93based_employers_globally

[10] https://www.msn.com/en-in/money/photos/the-worlds-30-largest-employers-will-surprise-you/ss-BBKxFrN#interstitial=1

[11] https://www.yum.com/wps/portal/yumbrands/Yumbrands/company

[12] https://suburbanchicagoland.com/2019/12/11/alorica-fires-wisconsin-workers-and-hires-9000-workers-in-the-philipines/

[13] https://usa.inquirer.net/49683/call-center-giant-alorica-to-9000-in-ph-but-lay-off-2000-in-u-s

[14] https://ph.indeed.com/cmp/Alorica/salaries/Customer-Care-Specialist , accessed Aug 16, 2021.

[15] https://usa.inquirer.net/49683/call-center-giant-alorica-to-9000-in-ph-but-lay-off-2000-in-u-s

[16] https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/california/candce/4:2019cv02494/341837/64/0.pdf

[17] https://homehealthcarenews.com/2018/04/kindred-agrees-to-pay-12-million-to-settle-labor-related-charges/

[18] https://feinbergjackson.com/our-work/settlements/

[19] https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/california/cacdce/2:2009cv04778/448226/252/0.pdf?ts=1428380205

[20] https://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/legal-news/overtime_california/overtime-pay-laws-unpaid-95-20042.html