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Leon Black Takes on Paul Singer in Caesars Vegas Showdown

Leon Black, Chairman and CEO, Apollo Global Management, LLC, speaks at the annual Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, on April 30, 2013

Leon Black, Chairman and CEO, Apollo Global Management, LLC, speaks at the annual Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, on April 30, 2013

Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon
By
Laura J. Keller, Linda Sandler and David Carey

Leon Black and Paul Singer got rich by outsmarting other people. For much of this year they’ve been trying to outsmart each other.

Black’s Apollo Global Management LLC and Singer’s Elliott Management Corp. battled over the fate of Caesars Entertainment Corp., the company Apollo and TPG Capital acquired in a 2008 leveraged buyout. Las Vegas-based Caesars is burdened by lackluster properties and $25.5 billion of debt -- some of it owed to Elliott -- that came with the deal.