Marc is the Chairman, CEO, and Co-founder of Avenue Capital Group, a global investment firm focused on distressed debt that he founded in 1995 with his sister, Sonia Gardner. Almost thirty years later, Avenue manages $12 billion in assets. Our conversation covers Marc’s background and path to investing, the early days in distressed, inflection points in Avenue’s history, including the decision to return half the capital in 2011 and to sell a minority stake to Morgan Stanley, and owning a stake in the Milwaukee Bucks NBA franchise over the last decade. We then turn to the investment environment, attractiveness across geographic regions, creating a competitive advantage, and opportunities in distressed lending, sports, and Asia. We close discussing Marc’s involvement in politics and lessons from chess and poker. Show Notes 04:51    Mark’s background 08:21    Launching Avenue Capital 09:08    Inflection points 16:29    GFC 21:14    Selling a stake in Avenue 25:05    Important milestones 29:57    Buying and Exiting the Milwaukee Bucks 32:42    Avenue’s path forward 37:34    Deploying capital in different geographies 41:11    Strengths and weaknesses of private credit 42:06    Finding opportunities 48:15    Valuations in sports investing 50:49    Navigating investing in Asia 51:28    Involvement in US politics 52:09    Chess, poker, and investing 53:10    Closing questions   Learn More​ Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn​ Subscribe to the mailing list​ Access Transcript with Premium Membership​