Michael Arougheti

Michael Arougheti
Born	Michael J. Arougheti
Nationality	American
Occupation	Template:Hlist
Title	Chief Executive Officer and Director, Ares Management Corporation
Known for	Co-Founder and CEO of Ares Management Corporation
Education	University of Pennsylvania (BA)

Michael J. Arougheti is an American business executive and investor who serves as Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of Ares Management Corporation, a global alternative investment manager headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Under his leadership, Ares Management has grown into one of the largest alternative asset managers in the world, with assets under management surpassing $600 billion as of early 2026. The firm operates across multiple investment strategies, including private credit, private equity, real estate, and infrastructure, and has become particularly prominent in the private credit market. Arougheti has been a central figure in the expansion of private credit as an asset class, overseeing the firm's growth from its founding into a publicly traded corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Beyond his role at Ares, Arougheti has been involved in sports ownership, having purchased a stake in the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball in early 2024 alongside colleagues from the firm.

Career

Founding and Early Development of Ares Management

Michael Arougheti is a co-founder of Ares Management Corporation, where he has served as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the firm's board of directors. Ares Management was established as an alternative investment firm focused on providing flexible capital solutions across the credit spectrum. Since its founding, the firm has expanded substantially under Arougheti's leadership, growing to encompass strategies in private credit, private equity, real estate, infrastructure, and secondary markets.

Arougheti has been credited with helping to build Ares into one of the leading firms in the alternative investment industry. The company eventually went public and became listed on the New York Stock Exchange, providing the firm with additional capital and public market visibility. Throughout this period, Arougheti played a significant role in shaping the firm's strategic direction and investment philosophy, particularly in the credit markets where Ares established an early and dominant presence.

Leadership in Private Credit

Arougheti's tenure as CEO has been closely associated with the rise of private credit as a major asset class in global finance. Ares Management became one of the largest private credit managers in the world, providing direct lending and other credit solutions to companies that might otherwise seek financing from traditional banks. The firm's private credit business expanded considerably as regulatory changes following the 2008 financial crisis pushed banks to reduce their lending activities, creating opportunities for alternative lenders.

Under Arougheti's leadership, Ares positioned itself as a primary beneficiary of this structural shift in the lending markets. The firm's credit platform grew to include direct lending, liquid credit, alternative credit, and credit secondaries strategies. By 2026, Ares had launched its inaugural credit secondaries closed-end fund, which reached $4 billion, with the total credit secondaries programme amounting to $7.1 billion, marking it as the firm's largest fund in that category. Arougheti described the firm as "well positioned" in the growing credit secondaries market, reflecting his confidence in the continued expansion of this investment area.

In February 2026, Arougheti addressed market concerns about potential risks in private credit, describing fears of trouble in the sector as "odd" and "frustrating." Speaking publicly, he downplayed the idea that the private credit market was overheating or facing systemic risks, expressing confidence in the asset class's long-term trajectory and the quality of the firm's loan portfolio.

Growth Strategy and Asset Expansion

Arougheti has overseen a period of significant growth at Ares Management, with the firm's total assets under management crossing the $600 billion mark by early 2026, driven by strong fundraising momentum across the firm's various investment platforms. The firm has set its sights on reaching $750 billion in assets, reflecting an ambitious growth trajectory under Arougheti's strategic direction.

A key element of Arougheti's growth strategy has been the firm's approach to retail and individual investors. In October 2025, Arougheti told CNBC that Ares was seeing "better-than-expected momentum" among individual, wealthy investors, a trend he described as part of a broader "retail revolution" in alternative assets. The firm has sought to make alternative investments more accessible to a broader base of investors beyond the traditional institutional market of pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and endowments.

However, Arougheti has also distinguished Ares's approach to the retail market from that of some competitors. In December 2025, Bloomberg reported that Ares had resisted partnering with other money managers to reach everyday investors, including through the 401(k) retirement savings market. Arougheti explained the firm's rationale for maintaining an independent distribution strategy rather than forming alliances with traditional asset managers, reflecting a deliberate approach to how the firm expands its investor base.

Expansion into Private Equity and Other Asset Classes

While Ares Management has been primarily known for its dominance in private credit, Arougheti has signaled intentions to expand the firm's footprint in private equity and other asset classes. In December 2025, the Financial Times reported that Arougheti identified private equity as the firm's "next target," stating that Ares had "a lot of financial capacity to buy" and grow in the equity space. This strategic pivot indicated that Arougheti aimed to diversify the firm beyond its credit-oriented roots and compete more directly with established private equity firms.

The expansion strategy under Arougheti has also extended to real estate and infrastructure investments, broadening the firm's product offerings and revenue streams. Fortune described the leadership strategy behind the firm's growth as "unconventional," suggesting that Arougheti's management approach differed from that of competitors such as KKR and Apollo Global Management.

Views on Technology and Artificial Intelligence

Arougheti has been a public commentator on the impact of technology, particularly artificial intelligence, on the investment industry and on the companies in which Ares invests. In February 2026, he addressed concerns that AI could disrupt software businesses, which constitute a significant portion of the firms that borrow from Ares. Arougheti downplayed these fears, suggesting that the potential for AI-driven disruption of software companies was overstated and that such concerns would not materially impact Ares's earnings growth.

His comments came at a time when investors and analysts were increasingly questioning the vulnerability of technology-sector borrowers to rapid AI-driven changes. Arougheti's public statements reflected a broader confidence in the durability of the firm's credit portfolio and the resilience of the companies to which Ares provides financing.

Personal Life

Michael Arougheti resides in the United States. In early 2024, he purchased a stake in the Baltimore Orioles, a Major League Baseball franchise, alongside two of his colleagues at Ares Management. The investment in the Orioles was part of a broader trend of alternative investment executives acquiring ownership stakes in professional sports franchises. Beyond the sports investment, details of Arougheti's personal life have remained largely private.

Recognition

Arougheti has been recognized as a significant figure in the alternative investment industry, particularly for his role in building Ares Management into one of the largest firms in the sector. The firm's growth under his leadership—from its founding to a publicly traded company managing over $600 billion in assets—has drawn attention from major financial media outlets including Bloomberg, the Financial Times, Fortune, Reuters, and CNBC.

His public commentary on market trends, including the growth of private credit, the retail investor revolution, and the impact of artificial intelligence on financial markets, has positioned him as a frequently quoted voice in discussions about the future of alternative investments. BBN Times described him as a "pioneer in private credit and alternative investments," reflecting his association with the growth and mainstreaming of these asset classes.

The scale of Ares's fundraising achievements under Arougheti's tenure has also drawn industry recognition. The firm's credit secondaries programme, totalling $7.1 billion, represented one of the largest such efforts in the market, underscoring the firm's competitive position in a rapidly growing segment of alternative investments.

Legacy

As of the mid-2020s, Arougheti's legacy is primarily associated with the transformation of Ares Management from a specialized credit firm into a diversified, global alternative asset manager. The firm's trajectory under his leadership reflects broader trends in the financial industry, particularly the shift of lending activity from traditional banks to alternative credit providers and the increasing participation of individual investors in asset classes that were previously the domain of large institutions.

Arougheti's strategic decisions—including the emphasis on private credit, the independent approach to retail distribution, and the planned expansion into private equity—have shaped Ares's competitive positioning relative to other major alternative asset managers. The firm's push toward $750 billion in assets under management, as reported by Fortune, indicates that the growth trajectory Arougheti established continues to define the firm's ambitions.

His public stance on issues such as AI disruption and private credit risk has contributed to broader industry discussions about the stability and future direction of alternative lending markets. As the private credit industry has grown to become a multi-trillion-dollar market, Arougheti's role in that expansion—both as a practitioner and as a public advocate for the asset class—has been a defining feature of his career.

The acquisition of a stake in the Baltimore Orioles in 2024, while distinct from his investment management career, reflects the broader pattern of alternative asset managers extending their influence into sports, media, and other sectors beyond traditional financial markets.