Isophoric News · Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Apollo's chief economist wrote that AI has produced no clear financial gain for the S&P 500 companies outside seven large technology firms, according to TechCrunch and Tom's Hardware
Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, said in a note that revenue per worker and profit margins have risen at the Magnificent Seven technology stocks but remained flat across the other 493 companies in the S&P 500, TechCrunch and Tom's Hardware reported. He wrote that the technology had delivered "zero financial payoff to corporate America outside of tech," and said his analysis found no clear evidence that AI is lifting productivity growth. Tom's Hardware dated the note to 24 October and described it as part of Apollo's Daily Spark analysis; TechCrunch said it was published recently. Tom's Hardware also reported Slok's point that costs rise with token usage, and that mainstream companies are starting to treat token spending as a cost rather than a source of growth. TechCrunch reported his argument that it will be hard for companies to turn cheaper intelligence into higher revenue and margins, and noted that other recent studies have found AI has not yet delivered large productivity gains. TechCrunch also noted that Apollo used to own TechCrunch. Both articles give Slok's view; neither includes a response from the technology companies or an independent check of the figures.
