BlackRock, Inc. is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors including corporate, public, union, and industry pension plans, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, endowments, public institutions, governments, foundations, charities, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, official institutions, and banks. It also provides global risk management and advisory services. The firm manages separate client-focused equity, fixed income, and balanced portfolios. It also launches and manages open-end and closed-end mutual funds, offshore funds, unit trusts, and alternative investment vehicles including structured funds. The firm launches equity, fixed income, balanced, and real estate mutual funds. It also launches equity, fixed income, balanced, currency, commodity, and multi-asset exchange traded funds. The firm also launches and manages hedge funds. It invests in the public equity, fixed income, real estate, currency, commodity, and alternative markets across the globe. The firm primarily invests in growth and value stocks of small-cap, mid-cap, SMID-cap, large-cap, and multi-cap companies. It also invests in dividend-paying equity securities. The firm invests in investment grade municipal securities, government securities including securities issued or guaranteed by a government or a government agency or instrumentality, corporate bonds, and asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities. It employs fundamental and quantitative analysis with a focus on bottom-up and top-down approach to make its investments. The firm employs liquidity, asset allocation, balanced, real estate, and alternative strategies to make its investments. In real estate sector, it seeks to invest in Poland and Germany. The firm benchmarks the performance of its portfolios against various S&P, Russell, Barclays, MSCI, Citigroup, and Merrill Lynch indices. BlackRock, Inc. was founded in 1988 and is based in New York City with additional offices in Boston, Massachusetts; London, United Kingdom; Gurgaon, India; Hong Kong; Greenwich, Connecticut; Princeton, New Jersey; Edinburgh, United Kingdom; Sydney, Australia; Taipei, Taiwan; Singapore; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Washington, District of Columbia; Toronto, Canada; Wilmington, Delaware; and San Francisco, California.
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- Amazon for investments
- A much larger, more diverse Vanguard
- AWS for financial institutions
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Investment Management Services
- ETFs (iShares): Exchange-Traded Funds are investment funds that trade on stock exchanges, offering diversified exposure to various asset classes, sectors, or geographies.
- Mutual Funds: Actively and passively managed pooled investment vehicles that allow investors to gain exposure to a diversified portfolio of securities.
- Institutional Separate Accounts: Customized investment mandates and portfolio management services provided directly to large institutional clients like pension funds, endowments, and sovereign wealth funds.
- Alternative Investments: Investment strategies that include private equity, hedge funds, real estate, infrastructure, and private credit, offering diversification and potentially higher returns than traditional assets.
Investment Technology Services
- Aladdin (Risk Management and Portfolio Management Technology): A comprehensive end-to-end technology platform used by institutional investors to manage risk, perform analytics, and operate their investment portfolios.
Financial Advisory Services
- Advisory Services: Consulting and strategic advice provided to institutional clients on asset allocation, portfolio construction, and risk management.
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BlackRock (symbol: BLK) serves a diverse global client base, encompassing both large institutional investors and individual investors. Due to the confidential nature of client relationships in the asset management industry, BlackRock does not publicly disclose the names of its specific major customers. However, its customer base can be broadly categorized as follows:
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Institutional Investors: This represents BlackRock's largest customer segment by assets under management. These clients are typically other companies or large entities that manage significant pools of capital. This category includes:
- Pension funds (corporate, public, and multi-employer)
- Sovereign wealth funds
- Endowments and foundations
- Insurance companies
- Official institutions and governments
- Other financial institutions managing their proprietary assets
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Wealth Management Firms and Financial Advisors: These are other companies or independent professionals (e.g., registered investment advisors, broker-dealers) who utilize BlackRock's investment products (such as iShares ETFs, mutual funds, and separate accounts) to manage portfolios for their own clients. These firms act as crucial intermediaries, distributing BlackRock's offerings to a broad base of individual and smaller institutional investors.
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Individual Investors: While often reached indirectly through wealth management firms and financial advisors, individual investors are ultimate direct or indirect customers of BlackRock. They invest in BlackRock's various products, primarily iShares Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and mutual funds, often through various brokerage platforms or direct-to-consumer channels.
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- Microsoft (MSFT)
- State Street Corporation (STT)
- JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)
- The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BK)
- MSCI Inc. (MSCI)
- S&P Global Inc. (SPGI)
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Laurence D. Fink, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Laurence D. Fink is a co-founder of BlackRock, establishing the firm in 1988 with seven partners. Before co-founding BlackRock, he was a managing director at The First Boston Corporation, where he was a pioneer in the mortgage-backed securities market and managed the firm's bond department. A significant $100 million loss at First Boston in 1986 due to an incorrect prediction about interest rates motivated his commitment to risk management and led to the creation of BlackRock. BlackRock was initially formed under the umbrella of The Blackstone Group, a private equity firm, before being spun off as an independent entity in 1994 and going public in 1999.
Martin Small, Chief Financial Officer
Martin Small is the Chief Financial Officer for BlackRock and its Global Head of Corporate Strategy. He joined BlackRock in 2006. Prior to becoming CFO in March 2023, he served as Head of BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory business from 2018 to 2022. He also led BlackRock's U.S. and Canada iShares from 2014 to 2018 and held leadership roles in the firm's Financial Markets Advisory (FMA) group from 2008 to 2014. Before joining BlackRock, Mr. Small was a corporate lawyer with the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York.
Robert S. Kapito, President and Director
Robert S. Kapito is a co-founder and President of BlackRock. He co-founded BlackRock in 1988 alongside Larry Fink. Before co-founding BlackRock, he was a Vice President in the Mortgage Products Group at The First Boston Corporation, where he worked with Larry Fink in pioneering the mortgage-backed security market in the United States. BlackRock was founded under the umbrella of the private equity firm Blackstone Group as partners.
Rob Goldstein, Chief Operating Officer
Robert Goldstein is BlackRock's Senior Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer. He helps oversee the day-to-day global business of the firm. Mr. Goldstein joined BlackRock in 1994 as an analyst in the Portfolio Analytics Group and later worked as a risk advisor to mortgage and insurance clients. Before becoming COO in 2014, he headed the firm's Institutional Client Business.
Chris Meade, Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel
Chris Meade serves as the Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of BlackRock, Inc.
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BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), the world's largest asset manager, participates in several significant addressable markets through its diverse range of products and services. These primarily include broad asset management, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) via its iShares brand, and its technology solutions platform, Aladdin, along with a growing presence in private markets data.
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Overall Asset Management (Global): The global asset management industry's total assets under management (AUM) represent BlackRock's broadest addressable market. While BlackRock itself managed $13.5 trillion in assets as of the third quarter of 2025, the total global asset management market is considerably larger. BlackRock managed 8% of the market in 2022. If BlackRock's AUM was approximately $9.4 trillion in Q2 2023, this would suggest a global asset management market of roughly $117.5 trillion in AUM around that time.
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Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) (Global): The global ETF market is a substantial and growing addressable market for BlackRock's iShares products. As of the end of 2024, global ETF assets under management (AUM) reached US$14.6 trillion. Another source indicates the global ETF market was worth approximately $13 trillion as of May 2024. The U.S.-listed ETF market alone held about $9 trillion in assets as of May 2024. BlackRock's iShares ETF business accounts for a significant portion of its total AUM, and iShares has been a global leader in the ETF marketplace for over two decades.
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Technology Services (Aladdin) (Global): BlackRock's Aladdin platform, which provides risk management and investment analytics, serves a specialized segment of the financial technology market. BlackRock estimates the addressable market for Aladdin for large institutional and wealth managers currently utilizing the service to be approximately $12.5 billion. Additionally, there is an estimated $11 billion in potential sales from non-client large institutional and wealth managers, as well as smaller firms, bringing the total potential addressable market for Aladdin to approximately $23.5 billion globally, based on BlackRock's projections.
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Private Markets Data (Global): Following its acquisition of Preqin, BlackRock has expanded its presence in the private markets data segment. This market is estimated to have a total addressable size of $8 billion globally and is projected to grow to $18 billion by 2030.
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Here are 3-5 expected drivers of future revenue growth for BlackRock (BLK) over the next 2-3 years:
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Growth in Private Markets and Alternative Investments: BlackRock is strategically expanding its presence in private markets and alternative investments, including private credit, infrastructure, and real estate, targeting significant fundraising of $400 billion by 2030. This area offers significantly higher fees compared to traditional exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Recent acquisitions, such as Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and HPS Investment Partners, further reinforce this strategy.
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Expansion of ETF Offerings and Digital Assets: The company's strategic focus on expanding its ETF offerings and digital assets has been crucial in attracting substantial inflows and contributing to record Assets Under Management (AUM). This includes the launch of new products like Bitcoin ETFs and digital asset exchange-traded products (ETPs) in various markets.
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Growth in Technology Services and the Aladdin Platform: BlackRock anticipates an increase in revenue from its technology services and subscriptions, driven by its proprietary Aladdin platform and the integration of AI-driven portfolio analytics features. Acquisitions, such as Preqin, also contribute to enhancing their data and technology capabilities.
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Consistent Organic Base Fee Growth: BlackRock has demonstrated a robust track record of strong organic base fee growth, fueled by broad-based client demand across its diversified product offerings. The company has set a target of achieving and exceeding 5% organic base fee growth consistently through 2030.
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Global Expansion and Penetration of Emerging Markets: BlackRock is focused on leveraging its global reach and expertise to expand into new markets, particularly high-growth emerging markets like India, to further diversify its client base and revenue streams.
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Share Repurchases
- BlackRock executed share buybacks of approximately $1.93 billion in 2024 and $2.332 billion in 2022.
- As of September 30, 2025, BlackRock had $394.58 million in share buybacks.
- BlackRock's closed-end funds have authorized open market share repurchase programs, with approximately $116 million repurchased across the closed-end fund complex in Q4 2023, and a cumulative $1.3 billion since the program's inception in 2016.
Share Issuance
- In January 2024, BlackRock agreed to acquire Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) for $12.5 billion, which included paying 12 million of its own shares as part of the deal.
Outbound Investments
- In January 2024, BlackRock announced the acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) for $12.5 billion.
- In July 2023, BlackRock entered a 50:50 joint venture with Jio Financial Services (JFS) to establish Jio BlackRock, an asset management business.
- BlackRock completed 7 acquisitions in 2024 and 5 in 2025 as of October 1, 2025, with notable recent acquisitions including ElmTree Funds in July 2025 and Viridium Gruppe for $3.82 billion in March 2025.
Capital Expenditures
- BlackRock's capital expenditures averaged $333.4 million annually from 2020 to 2024.
- Capital expenditures peaked at $533 million in 2022 and were $255 million in 2024.
- For the latest twelve months ending June 30, 2025, BlackRock's capital expenditures were $351 million, with $89 million for the quarter ending June 30, 2025.
