In early 2024, Michael Arougheti bought a stake in the MLB’s Baltimore Orioles with two of his colleagues at Ares Management. The move let him join the ultra-exclusive ranks of pro sports owners—but he realized there would be downsides. For one, he would have to give up his fantasy baseball league and his lifelong identity as a Yankees fan. But he didn’t think twice, and nor did his new co-owners, Mitchell Goldstein and Michael Smith. After signing the paperwork, Goldstein promptly went into his closet and filled three garbage bags with Yankees clothes and memorabilia, though he did hold onto his signed Derek Jeter jersey.
The three seized on the rare opportunity to get a piece of a pro sports team by becoming part of a new ownership group for the O’s that included high-profile names like David Rubenstein, cofounder of the private equity giant Carlyle Group, Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr., and Michael Bloomberg.
The Orioles purchase came as the latest signal of Ares’ rapid ascendance in the alternative asset sector, alongside familiar giants Carlyle, KKR, and Apollo. Like its rivals, Ares deals in “alt” investments like real estate and corporate reorganizations. But the firm’s arrival in the big leagues came about thanks to its dominance of one of the sector’s hottest categories: private credit.
