Not to be confused with Blackstone Group, a private equity and alternative investment
firm.
For other uses, see Black Rock.
BlackRock, Inc. is a U.S.-headquartered multinational investment management corporation based in
New York City.
Founded in 1988, initially as a risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager,
BlackRock became the world's largest asset manager as of 2010 after numerous acquisitions
including Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, Quellos, State Street, and Barclays Global.
As of 2014, BlackRock has $4.59 trillion in assets under management.
BlackRock is independently managed, with no single majority stockholder.
The PNC Financial Services Group has a minority ownership stake in BlackRock with the remainder
of stock owned by institutional and individual investors, including BlackRock employees.
In addition, BlackRock partners with institutional investors such as sovereign wealth funds on
strategic co-investment funds and capital raises.
History Origins
BlackRock was founded in 1988 by eight people including Larry Fink, Robert S. Kapito, Susan
Wagner, Barbara Novick, Ben Golub, Hugh Frater, Ralph Schlosstein, and Keith Anderson to provide
clients with asset management services from a risk management perspective.
Initially, BlackRock was part of the The Blackstone Group L.P. and was called Blackstone Financial
Management.
Fink, Kapito, Golub and Novick had previously worked together at First Boston where Fink
and his team were pioneers in the mortgage-backed securities market in the United States.
In 1992, BlackRock changed its name from Blackstone Financial Management.
In 1995, BlackRock was bought by PNC Financial Services Group, while continuing to be managed
independently.
In 1998, PNC’s equity, liquidity, and mutual fund activities were merged into BlackRock.
BlackRock went public in 1999 at $14 a share.
1999–2009 BlackRock grew both organically and by acquisition.
In 2004, BlackRock acquired SSRM Holdings, Inc. from MetLife for $375 million in cash
and stock.
Another acquisition from MetLife was the mutual-fund business State Street Research Management,
in January 2005.
In September 2006, BlackRock merged with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, halving PNC's ownership
and giving Merrill Lynch a 49.5% stake in the company.
In October 2007, BlackRock acquired the fund-of-funds business of Quellos Capital Management.
In April 2009, BlackRock hired 43 employees from R3 Capital Management, LLC and took control
of the $1.5 billion fund.
The U.S. government contracted with BlackRock to help clean up after the financial meltdown
of 2008.
According to Vanity Fair, the financial establishment in Washington and on Wall Street believed
BlackRock was the best choice for the job.
In December 2009, the company acquired Barclays Global Investors from Barclays.
BGI was headquartered in San Francisco, with research and portfolio management teams in
London, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, and other cities.
BlackRock also acquired BGI's iShares funds.
2010 onwards In 2010, Ralph Schlosstein, the CEO of Evercore
Partners and a BlackRock founder, called BlackRock "the most influential financial institution
in the world".
On 1 April 2011, BlackRock replaced Genzyme on the S&P 500 index.
BlackRock Solutions BlackRock Solutions, part of BlackRock, Inc.,
was retained by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to manage and eventually liquidate
the assets held in a newly formed Delaware limited liability company to fund the purchase
of residential mortgage-backed securities from the securities lending portfolio of several
regulated U.S. insurance subsidiaries of AIG.
In 2000, BlackRock launched BlackRock Solutions to address risk management and business process
challenges by combining risk analytics and investment systems with capital markets and
business process expertise.
BlackRock Solutions consists of three components including BlackRock Risk Management and Investment
Platform Solutions, BlackRock Financial Markets Advisory, and BlackRock Client Solutions.
Aladdin is BlackRock’s electronic in-house investment management platform.
As of 2013, the platform had nearly 2,000 employees.
Aladdin supports the investment management process including risk reporting, analytics,
portfolio management, trade execution, and operation processing.
It seeks not only to forecast individual asset movements but to measure how correlated those
movements are, and to what effect.
Aladdin keeps track of 30,000 investment portfolios, including BlackRock's own along with competitors,
banks, pension funds and insurers.
According to The Economist, the platform monitors almost 7 percent of the world’s $225 trillion
of financial assets.
Organization BlackRock is a global firm with 21 investment
centers, 70 offices in 30 countries and clients in 100 countries.
Key people Laurence D. Fink - Founder, Chairman & CEO
Robert S. Kapito - Founder & Co-President Charles Hallac - Co-President
Susan Wagner – Founder, member of the Board of Directors
Kendrick R. Wilson, III - Vice Chairman Barbara Novick – Founder, Vice Chairman
Philipp Hildebrand - Vice Chairman Robert Goldstein - Managing Director, Chief
Operating Officer Gary Shedlin - Senior Managing Director, Chief
Financial Officer Bennett W. Golub - Founder, Senior Managing
Director, Chief Risk Officer Notes
External links Official BlackRock website
BlackRock SEC Filings Official US iShares site
Official UK iShares site Official Canadian iShares site
BlackRock Global Cash Management website Fortune Magazine Article: Can this man save
Wall Street BlackRock's Analytics Pay Off in More Ways
Than One Fink Builds BlackRock Powerhouse without Goldman
Sachs Backlash Larry Fink’s $12 Trillion Shadow