Fortress Investment Group, LLC is an Americanmulti-manager investment firm based in New York City. The firm invests in corporate credit, real estate, private equity, insurance, and permanent capital strategies.[3][6][7] Fortress manages $53 billion of assets as of August 2025 on behalf of over 2,000 institutional clients and private investors worldwide.[3][4][5]
Fortress was founded in 1998. The company listed on theNYSE in February 2007,[8][9] delisted in 2017, and, as of 2024, began operating as aprivately held and independent brand.[10] Drew McKnight and Joshua Pack were the co-CEOs of Fortress, prior to Mr. Pack's unexpected passing in September 2025.[3]
Fortress Investment Group LLC was founded in 1998 in New York City as a private equity firm in 1998 by Wesley R. Edens, a former partner atBlackRock; Rob Kauffman, a managing director atUBS; Randal A. Nardone, also a managing director atUBS;Michael Novogratz, a former partner atGoldman Sachs; and Pete Briger, also a former partner atGoldman Sachs.[11][12] The firm quickly expanded into hedge funds, real estate-related investments anddebt securities, withMichael Novogratz leading the hedge fund strategy and Peter Briger overseeing the credit and real estate-related investments.[13]
Fortress completed its initial public offering on February 8, 2007, with Goldman Sachs andLehman Brothers underwriting theIPO.[14]
When Fortress launched on theNYSE on February 9, 2007, it was the first large private equity firm in the United States to betraded publicly.[8][9] Fortress and its principals were subsequently featured in an April 2009Vanity Fair article on the adverse economic conditions facinghedge funds.[15]
In 2014, Fortress was named "Hedge Fund Manager of the Year" byInstitutional Investor and "Management Firm of the Year" byHFMWeek. Fortress was previously recognized byInstitutional Investor as “Discretionary Macro-Focused Hedge Fund of the Year” for 2012, and “Credit-Focused Fund of the Year” for both 2011 and 2010.[16]
On October 13, 2015, the company announced that its $2.3 billion Macro Fund was to close down and would distribute its assets to investors. This development came after its co-CIOs Jeff Feig and Michael Novogratz stepped down from the fund and retired from the firm, respectively.[17][18]
By 2016, Fortress Investment Group had four core businesses totaling approximately $70.2 billion ofassets under management:private equity, credit, liquid markets[19] and traditional asset management.[20]
On February 14, 2017,SoftBank Group agreed that it would buy Fortress Investment Group LLC for $3.3 billion.[21][22] The SoftBank acquisition was completed in the last week of December,[23] with Fortress beingdelisted from theNew York Stock Exchange, and returned to being aprivately held company.[24] In December 2017, Fortress Investment Group loaned $100 million toTheranos with the loan to keep the medical startup solvent through 2018.[25][26][27] At the time, Fortress also had "underdog" bets in a private passenger rail line in Florida.[26]
Through an investment inFlorida East Coast Railway, Fortress became an early backer of theBrightline passenger rail in Florida,[28] which is the only privately owned and operated passenger railroad in the United States.[29] Fortress Investment Group invested in the construction ofBrightline West, a high speed rail route between Las Vegas and Southern California.
On January 3, 2018, it was reported that Fortress was nearing a deal to sell its stake on OneMain toApollo Global Management.[23] The agreement was announced on January 5, with Varde Partners also taking part in the purchase.[30]
In 2023, it was announced that Fortress’ management team and Mubadala Capital would acquire all Fortress equity held bySoftBank Group.[31]
On May 15, 2024, it was announced that Mubadala and Fortress management had jointly completed the purchase of Fortress Investment Group. Following the acquisition, Fortress began operating independently under its own brand, with Fortress management owning a 32% equity interest.[32][33][34][35]
In May 2025, Fortress opened itsAbu Dhabi location, which provides private credit and real estate investments in the Gulf region.[36]
In 2006, Fortress-managed funds acquired Canadianski resort operatorIntrawest, North America's largest ski resort operator.[42] Intrawest was sold by Fortress in 2017.[43]
In May 2007,Florida East Coast Industries (FECI), parent company ofFlorida East Coast Railway (FEC), announced that, following a unanimous vote of the FECI Board of Directors, a Fortress-managed fund would acquire FECI in a transaction valued at$3.5 billion.[44][45] TheSurface Transportation Board approved the transaction in September 2007. It was through this investment that the Brightline train company was established.[46]
In June 2007, Fortress announced that it would partner withCenterbridge Partners to acquirePenn National Gaming, an operator of casinos and horse racing venues, for $6.1 billion. Penn National shareholders were to receive $67 cash for each share. In July 2008, Fortress backed away from the agreement amidst the uncertain economic climate. Under the termination agreement, Penn National received $1.475 billion, consisting of abreakup fee of $225 million and an interest-free $1.25 billion loan from Fortress, Centerbridge,Wachovia andDeutsche Bank. Fortress co-chairman Wesley Edens assumed a seat on the board of Penn National as part of the agreement.[47][48]
In January 2014, Fortress was the winning bidder for the assets of theMontreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway.[49] In March 2014, John E. Giles of Great Lakes Partners estimated a $10–$20 million investment would be needed over three years to repair the line, which Fortress branded as theCentral Maine and Quebec Railway.[50] The sale was completed in May 2014, for US$15.85 million.[51]
In October 2014, it was reported by theBirmingham Business Journal that Fortress had purchased the Inverness Corners retail center.[52] Fortress Investment Group is also the parent company to Mystays hotels and resorts in Japan.[53]
In April 2024, Fortress purchased the UK discount retailerPoundstretcher, which also included its 60 store sister discount chainBargain Buys. This purchase was added to other UK businesses in its portfolio which included,Majestic Wine andPunch Pubs.[54] Fortress also announced that it had committed $3.2 billion in financing forSoFi as an extension to a prior $2 billion agreement.[55]
In 2024, Fortress acquired cinema chainCurzon for $5mn as part of an auction after Fortress won a lawsuit againstCharles Cohen for defaulting on a $534mn loan made in 2019.[56][57]
Fortress Investment Group was the primary lender to Millennium Development Group for building the C$875 million athlete's village for the2010 Winter Olympics in Southeast False Creek,Vancouver,British Columbia; however, Fortress was unable to provide further financing to Millennium, forcing the City of Vancouver to pay approximately C$450 million to complete the project in November 2009.[60][61][62] Three weeks before the opening of the2010 Winter Olympics,Intrawest was slated for auction after Fortress failed to make the final payment on its loan used to buy outIntrawest. This caused its creditors to force Intrawest to divest itself of several of its resort holdings in 2009 and 2010 to reduce its debt load.[63] Fortress became the owner of the village after the2010 Winter Olympics.[64]
VLSI Technology LLC and INVT SPE LLC, portfolio companies owned by investment funds managed by Fortress, have filed several lawsuits againstApple,Intel,HTC,ZTE and other telecommunications companies. In 2019, VLSI alleged Intel'sSpeedStep technology introduced in 2005 infringes on its patent purchased.[65] During this same time, VLSI asserted its patents against several other Intel products and obtained two jury verdicts totaling over $3 billion.[66][67] INVT SPE LLC was assigned 740 telecommunications patents originally filed byPanasonic after funds managed by Fortress acquired assets previously belonging to Inventergy Global, Inc.[68][69]
On March 9, 2020, an LLC owned by funds managed by Fortress through itsnon-operating subsidiary Labrador Diagnostics (which holds patents previously owned by Theranos), alleged that BioFire's FilmArray technology infringed some of its patents.[70] On March 3, 2020, theWall Street Journal published an article identifying thatbioMérieux was working on two diagnostic tests for COVID-19.[71] After the patent infringement lawsuit was filed, bioMérieux announced that BioFire was developing tests to detect SARS-CoV-2.[72] After the announcement, Labrador claimed that when it filed the lawsuit against BioFire it had no idea BioFire was developing COVID-19 testing kits.[73][74] Fortress subsequently offered to grant both the defendants and anyone else a royalty-free license for its technology for use in COVID-19 tests.[73]
^"home".The Globe and Mail. 2009. Archived fromthe original on February 4, 2009. RetrievedAugust 28, 2017.
^"Olympic Funding". CBC News. 2008. RetrievedDecember 24, 2016. "By April 2014, the City of Vancouver had paid off the entire $630 million debt of the Olympic Village project at Southeast False Creek, with $91 million being recently recouped through the sale of 67 condos for $91 million to the Aquilini Group."
