Apollo Fourth-Quarter Earnings Decline 79% on Oil Drop

Apollo Global Management LLC, the private equity firm run by billionaire Leon Black, said fourth-quarter profit fell 79 percent as a drop in oil prices hurt some of its holdings and company exits decelerated.

Economic net income after taxes, a measure of earnings that includes unrealized gains, decreased to $93.8 million, or 23 cents a share, from $444 million, or $1.12 a share, a year earlier, New York-based Apollo said Thursday in a statement. Analysts had expected earnings of 38 cents a share, according to the average of 14 estimates in a Bloomberg survey.