Latest Interviews
Showing 1–15 of 26 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Milken Institute57 min
Leaders in Asset Management | Global Conference 2025
Michael Milken, Jonathan Gray, Marc Rowan
Over three decades, Blackstone and Apollo have evolved from niche funds into $1.2 trillion powerhouses by pivoting to private credit and emerging markets to fill financing gaps left by constrained banks. These leaders are reshaping the global economy by targeting non-investment grade borrowers and capitalizing on growth in India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East while leveraging long-term ownership to drive wages and human capital initiatives. Looking ahead, both firms aim to dominate the shifting landscape of active asset management and full-service capital solutions, utilizing adaptive cultures and specialized technology to generate excess returns as public markets increasingly index.
- Milken Institute1h 2m
Global Overview: Innovation, Partnerships, and Growth | Middle East & Africa Summit 2025
Hadley Gamble, His Excellency Jasem Al Budaiwi, Her Excellency Mariam bint Mohammed AlMheiri, Yasseen Mansour, Michael Milken, Yassine Mansour, Jasem Al Budaiwi, Mariam bint Mohammed AlMheiri
The 46th GCC Summit united regional leaders to prioritize collective defense following recent security threats while accelerating economic diversification, evidenced by non-oil GDP reaching 76% and the UAE becoming the global top destination for millionaires. Strategic investments totaling $150 billion target Africa's demographic growth and energy sectors, complemented by a joint AI strategy designed to transform government services and healthcare across the region. Positioned as a neutral mediator in global affairs, the bloc combines regulatory stability with massive infrastructure projects to attract capital flows and challenge traditional economic centers like Europe and the United States.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
Common Sense from Uncommon Investors | Global Conference 2025
Michael Milken, Victor Khosla, Marc Lipschultz, Robert F. Smith, Jonathan D. Sokoloff, Anne Walsh
On May 5, 2025, a panel of investment leaders including Anne, Jonathan, Robert, Mark, and Victor analyzed a geopolitical landscape upended by U.S. fiscal policy and trade shifts that have heightened market volatility and debt concerns. Despite these macroeconomic headwinds, the group highlighted robust opportunities within private equity, generative AI, and private credit, citing specific strategies such as expanding employee ownership, deploying "agentic" AI solutions, and providing stable capital for hyperscale infrastructure. The discussion concluded with a focus on governance and succession, emphasizing the necessity of shifting from short-term arbitrage to long-term value creation while mentoring the next generation of investment professionals to navigate structural market changes.
- Milken Institute46 min
The Next Generation of Investment Leaders | Global Conference 2025
Michael Arougheti, Todd Boehly, Michael Milken
On May 6, 2025, Ares' Michael Arrigetti and Eldridge's Todd Boley convened to discuss replicating Berkshire Hathaway's scale by building companies from scratch rather than acquiring existing ones. Their firms distinguished themselves through decade-long returns exceeding 67% for high-yield instruments and deep cultural investments in sectors ranging from private credit to sports franchises like the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers. Both leaders project trillions in assets under management by leveraging undeployed capital, maintaining strict leverage discipline, and prioritizing long-term compounding over immediate financial necessity.
- Milken Institute53 min
Health Care of the Future | Future of Health Summit 2024
Michael Milken, Alex Azar, Buddy Carter, Diana DeGette, Renee Wegrzyn
The event detailed how ARPA-H and legislative initiatives like "Cures 2.0" are addressing systemic healthcare challenges by funding high-risk biomedical innovations and ensuring pharmaceutical independence. Key figures including Rep. Diana DeGette and Rep. Chris Carter highlighted strategies to reform Medicare Advantage payment models and repatriate drug manufacturing to counter supply chain vulnerabilities. The panel concluded with a call for increased federal investment in translational science and a broader call for business leaders to enter government to sustain the pace of medical breakthroughs.
- Milken Institute46 min
The Road Ahead: Reflections and Insights to Improve Health for All | Future of Health Summit 2023
Alex Azar, Xavier Becerra, Michael Milken
Former and current HHS Secretaries Alex Azar and Javier Becerra contrasted their divergent economic philosophies regarding the Inflation Reduction Act and pandemic response while detailing the collaborative frameworks used in Operation Warp Speed and current legislative efforts to lower drug costs. Their discussion highlighted a unified push toward healthcare equity, evidenced by significant vaccination rate improvements among minority populations and the expansion of the 988 mental health crisis lifeline, despite ongoing challenges in data transparency and life expectancy trends. Ultimately, both leaders emphasized the critical need for international coordination on pandemic preparedness and domestic investments to address structural gaps in rural and maternal care.
- Milken Institute49 min
Dialogue with Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim
Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Dato' Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim, Haslinda Amin, Michael Milken, Curtis Chin, Anwar Ibrahim, Michael Swaito, Joe Brock
Anwar Ibrahim and Mahathir Mohamad lead a transition government in Malaysia that prioritizes dismantling race-based economic policies, combating systemic corruption, and replacing the New Economic Policy with a need-based framework. The administration plans to recover billions from the 1MDB scandal to fund education and social services while managing a predetermined handover of the premiership from Mohamad to Ibrahim in May 2020. This strategic governance aims to redefine the nation's "Asian Dream" by fostering multiracial democracy, addressing severe poverty statistics, and positioning Malaysia as a stable economic force amid regional geopolitical tensions.
- Milken Institute1h 1m
Investing with Vision: A Conversation With SoftBank's Rajeev Misra
Rajeev Misra, Mike Milken, Michael Milken
SoftBank Vision Fund has deployed $80 billion across 80 portfolio companies to aggregate fragmented markets through AI-driven platforms and preferential debt financing. Led by Rajiv Mehta, the fund targets 30% long-term returns by applying a minority stake strategy to "fearless" founders while leveraging SoftBank's ecosystem for global expansion. With a second fund planned for immediate launch, the organization aims to capitalize on the transition from internet growth to an AI revolution that restructures industries like transportation and hospitality.
- Milken Institute1h 5m
Keeping the American Dream Alive
Michael Milken, Raymond Dalio, Robert Smith
A panel of economists and policy experts diagnoses the erosion of the American Dream as a result of stagnant incomes for the bottom 65%, extreme wealth concentration, and systemic underdevelopment driven by technological substitution and flawed monetary policy. To reverse these trends, the group proposes data-driven public-private partnerships that treat education and early intervention as high-yield capital investments, specifically targeting at-risk youth and underserved STEM students through targeted internships and holistic support systems. The discussion concludes that without bipartisan cooperation to redistribute opportunity and address the looming risk of social conflict, the nation faces severe systemic instability exacerbated by a rapidly shifting demographic landscape.
- Milken Institute51 min
Sir Richard Branson and Michael Milken in Conversation with Kevin O'Leary
Sir Richard Branson, Michael Milken, Kevin O'Leary, Richard Branson
Speakers Richard and Michael analyze a sharp decline in Western faith in free enterprise driven by student debt, stagnant real estate returns, and wealth inequality, while contrasting this with optimism in emerging markets like Vietnam and China. They argue that successful entrepreneurship now relies on balancing visionary leadership with operational management to navigate deregulation, tax competitiveness, and global capital flows, noting that SMEs have become the primary engines of job creation. Furthermore, the discussion outlines solutions for systemic challenges, including a universal carbon tax to address climate change and for-profit space exploration to ensure both environmental sustainability and human survival.
- Milken Institute1h 30m
A Conversation with Howard Marks: Mastering the Market Cycle
Investment strategist Howard Marks emphasizes that historical market cycles and human psychology consistently drive asset pricing, challenging the "this time is different" narrative while highlighting the critical importance of valuation over asset quality. His analysis of structural shifts, from the evolution of bond covenants to the rise of passive investing, underscores that risk is cyclically determined by investor sentiment and liquidity rather than economic fundamentals alone. Ultimately, Marks argues that successful capital allocation requires recognizing probabilistic outcomes and maintaining sufficient resources to exploit the extreme fear and pricing inefficiencies that arise during inevitable downturns.
- Milken Institute1h 1m
Healthy People, Healthy Planet: Creating a Sustainable Ecosystem
Ryan Shadrick Wilson, Dan Barber, Bill Cassidy, Michael Milken, Walter Robb
A speaker delivered a fragmented session marked by technical failures, personal distress, and incoherent repetition rather than substantive policy or data. While alluding to a crisis and a potential future project, the speaker failed to provide specific details on events in New Orleans and New York or confirm any definitive outcomes. The presentation concluded without offering actionable information, instead highlighting the speaker's physical exhaustion and an inability to address the questions posed.
- Milken Institute52 min
Humanity, Revised? Editing and Augmenting the Human Species
Michael Milken, Juan Enriquez, Peter Diamandis
Speakers including Peter Diamandis, Juan Enriquez, and Ray Kurzweil outline a paradigm shift where human evolution is moving from natural selection to intelligent direction through advanced bionics, CRISPR gene editing, and quantum computing. These technologies are projected to exponentially increase human capabilities, merge biology with digital intelligence by the mid-2030s, and enable the growth of replacement organs or the revival of extinct species. The presenters argue that private capital and global transparency now drive a moral imperative to secure a multi-planetary existence and achieve longevity escape velocity before extinction risks overwhelm Earth.
- Milken Institute57 min
MIc'd Up | A Conversation With Steve Ballmer
Steve Ballmer, Michael Milken, Stephen Ballmer, Mike Milken
Former Microsoft CEO Stephen Ballmer leveraged his corporate success to purchase the Los Angeles Clippers in 2014, where he now champions a dedicated arena and implements a player development program focused on life skills and emotional maturity. Concurrently, he and his wife founded the Ballmer Group to drive economic mobility through early childhood education initiatives and the data transparency project USA Facts, which aggregates government financial records to counteract declining social prospects. Drawing on his background as a first-generation American and tech executive, Ballmer argues that investing in pre-K yields superior long-term returns compared to later educational interventions while advocating for AI's potential to lift all societal boats despite short-term displacement concerns.
- Milken Institute1h 23m
Part 1: Conversation With David Petraeus | Part 2: Conversation With Steven Mnuchin
David Petraeus, Steven Mnuchin, Maria Bartiromo, Michael Milken, Tony Blair
Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, General David Petraeus, and former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin convened to analyze the resurgent competition between authoritarian and liberal democratic systems shaping the 21st century. The panelists addressed critical geopolitical flashpoints including the strategic rivalry with China, the destabilizing role of Russia, and the potential for an Israel-Arab alliance to secure Middle East stability. Simultaneously, they discussed domestic economic priorities, ranging from the impacts of tax reform and trade negotiations to the necessity of robust governance in Africa and the Middle East to counter extremism and promote prosperity.