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Profiles

BlackRock

BlackRock, Inc. is an American global investment management corporation based in New York City.[1] It is the world's largest asset manager, with US$10 trillion in assets under management as of January 2022.[2] The company is a partner organization of the World Economic Forum (WEF),[3] where CEO Larry Fink sits on the board of trustees.[4]

History

BlackRock participated in the inaugural ID2020 Summit in May 2016 at the United Nations headquarters in New York.[5]

An article published in 2018 by Jose Azar, Martin Schmalz, and Isabel Tecu criticizes the empirical effect of large exchange-traded fund (ETF)-providers, namely BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, as measured against assets managed by the largest providers based on the competitive behaviour between the companies. As a result of this dominant market position, competition in the market price for goods or services only takes place only to a limited extent. According to the study, prices are about 11% higher at the expense of consumers.[6]

In September 2019, the Campaign for Accountability published a report that examines BlackRock's lobbying activities in the United States and shows that BlackRock has visibly expanded its lobbying activities and donations to politicians since the 2008 financial crisis.[7] According to the report, BlackRock tried to be classified by the US authorities as “non-systemically important” in order to avoid closer monitoring by state actors.[8] The report concludes that “while BlackRock claims to be concerned with socially conscious behaviour, it has embraced policies that could put American consumers at risk. BlackRock's political influence could soon grow to match its power in the financial marketplace.”

COVID-19

Following the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, BlackRock contributed funds to the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-Accelerator).[9] The company also served as a COVID-19 Response Partner for Feeding America.[10]

In April 2020, BlackRock and Microsoft announced a strategic partnership where BlackRock’s Aladdin infrastructure will be hosted on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform to “enable continuous innovation in the financial services industry.” The two companies also outlined plans to work together on initiatives that leverage technology to improve and expand standardized, high-quality sustainability data and analytics.[11]

BlackRock ran a video advertisement in 2022 in which Thomas Matthew Crooks briefly appeared as an unpaid background actor. The video featured a teacher, classroom and students from Bethel Park High School. After Crooks was identified by law enforcement as the attempted assassin of President Donald Trump on July 14, 2024, BlackRock pulled the ad.[12]

On August 4, 2022, Coinbase announced it had partnered with BlackRock to offer cryptocurrency trading services to its wealthy clients.[13] Part of the deal involved allowing users of BlackRock's Aladdin management platform to purchase Bitcoin through Coinbase Prime, with access to other altcoins coming at a future date.

Organization

BlackRock is a corporate member/partner of:

BlackRock has been a client of Prescient.[23]

Personnel

Name Position Notes
Larry Fink Chief Executive Officer World Economic Forum (WEF), Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Business Roundtable
Matt Anestis Global Head of Investment Process and Operating Risk for Alternatives[24] Commons Project, Boston Consulting Group, Global Shapers Boston
Kameka Dempsey Vice President of Global Talent Management (former)[25] COVID-19 Technology Task Force, KD Leadership Strategies
Tom Donilon Chairman of the BlackRock Investment Institute[26] National Security Advisor to President Barack Obama
Edward Dowd Managing Director, Equity Portfolio Manager (former)[27] Malone Institute, Phinance Technologies
Peter McKillop Global Head of Communications, iShares ETF Division[28] Africa-America Institute (AAI), Burson-Marsteller, Newsweek
Marcia Moffatt Managing Director, Country Head of Canada[17:1] C.D. Howe Institute
Patrick O'Connor Director (former)[29] Tuesday's Children

Portfolio

BlackRock owns controlling shares in many of the large corporations that make up the world economy. At the end of 2014, the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute reported that 65% of Blackrock's assets under management were made up of institutional investors like pension funds and sovereign wealth funds from oil producing states.[30]

Companies in BlackRock's portfolio include:

Activities

BlackRock has provided notable funding to:

Further reading

  1. Feuer, W. (2021, November 5). Striking Alabama mine workers arrested in NYC outside BlackRock HQ. New York Post. http://archive.vn/2022.01.18-184239/https://nypost.com/2021/11/05/striking-alabama-mine-workers-arrested-in-nyc-outside-blackrock-hq/ ↩︎

  2. Barrabi, T. (2022, January 18). BlackRock CEO says stakeholder capitalism isn’t “woke,” just good business. New York Post. http://archive.vn/2022.01.18-184447/https://nypost.com/2022/01/18/larry-fink-says-stakeholder-capitalism-isnt-woke-just-good-business/ ↩︎

  3. BlackRock. World Economic Forum. Retrieved June 10, 2021, from http://archive.vn/2021.06.10-062423/https://www.weforum.org/organizations/blackrock-inc ↩︎ ↩︎

  4. Leadership and Governance. World Economic Forum. Retrieved November 25, 2021, from http://archive.vn/2021.11.25-124502/https://www.weforum.org/about/leadership-and-governance ↩︎

  5. ID2020 holds Inaugural Summit at the United Nations. (2016, May 20). ID2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20181107014813/https://id2020.org/news/2016summit ↩︎

  6. Azar, J., Schmalz, M. C., & Tecu, I. (2018). Competitive Effects of Common Ownership: Evidence from the Airline Industry. SSRN Electronic Journal, 73(4). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2427345 ↩︎

  7. Dewan, B. (2019, September 5). New Report Details How BlackRock Fought Off Government Regulation by Spending Big in Washington. Campaign for Accountability. http://archive.vn/2022.01.19-082119/https://campaignforaccountability.org/new-report-details-how-blackrock-fought-off-government-regulation-by-spending-big-in-washington/ ↩︎

  8. BlackRock's Washington Playbook: How the Asset Manager Boosted its Political Spending and Fought off Government Supervision. (2019, September). Campaign for Accountability. https://campaignforaccountability.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/CfA-BlackRock-Pay-to-Play-9-5-19.pdf ↩︎

  9. Access to COVID-19 tools funding commitment tracker. (2022, April 1). World Health Organization. https://web.archive.org/web/20220407020319/https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/access-to-covid-19-tools-tracker ↩︎ ↩︎

  10. COVID-19 Response Partners. Feeding America. Retrieved July 3, 2022, from http://archive.today/2022.07.03-195405/https://www.feedingamerica.org/about-us/partners/covid-19-response-partners ↩︎ ↩︎

  11. BlackRock and Microsoft form strategic partnership to host Aladdin on Azure as BlackRock readies Aladdin for next chapter of innovation. (2020, April 7). Microsoft News Center. http://archive.vn/2020.09.21-032132/https://news.microsoft.com/2020/04/07/blackrock-and-microsoft-form-strategic-partnership-to-host-aladdin-on-azure-as-blackrock-readies-aladdin-for-next-chapter-of-innovation/ ↩︎

  12. Valinsky, J. (2024, July 15). BlackRock pulls commercial that included Trump rally shooter. CNN. https://web.archive.org/web/20240717184737/https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/15/business/blackrock-commercial-included-trump-shooter/index.html ↩︎

  13. US Crypto Exchange Giant Coinbase Signs Huge Deal With Investment Firm BlackRock. (2022, August 4). The Daily Hodl. https://web.archive.org/web/20220810020815/https://dailyhodl.com/2022/08/04/us-crypto-exchange-giant-coinbase-signs-huge-deal-with-investment-firm-blackrock/ ↩︎

  14. COA Corporate Members. (2023, October 23). AS/COA. http://archive.today/2023.08.22-171902/https://www.as-coa.org/about/coa-corporate-members ↩︎

  15. Members. Business Roundtable. Retrieved October 24, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20221024221515/https://www.businessroundtable.org/about-us/members ↩︎

  16. Members and Committees. Canadian Coalition for Good Governance. Retrieved November 6, 2022, from http://archive.today/2022.11.06-014155/https://ccgg.ca/members-and-committees/ ↩︎

  17. Annual Report 2021. C.D. Howe Institute. Retrieved November 9, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20221109082150/https://www.cdhowe.org/sites/default/files/2022-09/2021_AR_English_0525_0.pdf ↩︎ ↩︎

  18. Chatham House corporate members. Chatham House. Retrieved June 2, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220602143013/https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/images/conferences/Current Members List.pdf ↩︎

  19. Corporate Members. (2020, February 7). Council on Foreign Relations. http://archive.today/2020.02.08-083335/https://www.cfr.org/membership/corporate-members ↩︎

  20. Partner with Heifer International. Heifer International. Retrieved July 23, 2022, from http://archive.today/2022.07.23-070824/https://www.heifer.org/partners/index.html ↩︎

  21. Our Members. The Investor Forum. Retrieved June 16, 2022, from http://archive.today/2022.06.16-054628/https://www.investorforum.org.uk/our-members/ ↩︎

  22. Firm directory. Kauffman Fellows. Retrieved September 30, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220930161909/https://www.kauffmanfellows.org/firmdirectory ↩︎

  23. Our Clients. Prescient. Retrieved February 24, 2024, from http://archive.today/2024.02.24-003806/https://prescient2050.com/our-clients/ ↩︎

  24. Matthew Anestis. World Economic Forum. Retrieved January 5, 2025, from https://web.archive.org/web/20250105221743/https://www.weforum.org/people/matthew-anestis/ ↩︎

  25. Who We Are. KD Leadership Strategies. Retrieved April 29, 2019, from https://web.archive.org/web/20190429185453/https://www.kdleadershipstrategies.com/who-we-are/ ↩︎

  26. Thomas Donilon. BlackRock. Retrieved January 5, 2025, from https://web.archive.org/web/20250105224522/https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/biographies/thomas-donilon ↩︎

  27. Experience | Edward Dowd. LinkedIn. Retrieved January 5, 2025, from https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-dowd-87902158/details/experience/ ↩︎

  28. AAI Leadership. Africa-America Institute. Retrieved February 11, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220211122248/https://www.aaionline.org/about-aai/board/ ↩︎

  29. Honig, S. (2018, September 20). J.P. Morgan and Blackrock Executives Join Tuesday’s Children Board of Directors. Cision PR Newswire; Tuesday’s Children. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jp-morgan-and-blackrock-executives-join-tuesdays-children-board-of-directors-300716047.html ↩︎

  30. Is BlackRock Too Big? (2015, February 10). Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. https://web.archive.org/web/20150210074716/http://www.swfinstitute.org/swf-article/is-blackrock-too-big/ ↩︎

  31. Airbnb, Inc. (ABNB) Stock Major Holders. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from http://archive.vn/2022.01.18-083354/https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/quote/ABNB/holders?p=ABNB&guccounter=1 ↩︎

  32. Anduril Industries - Financials. Crunchbase. Retrieved January 17, 2025, from https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/anduril-industries/company_financials ↩︎

  33. Best Buy Co., Inc. (BBY) Stock Major Holders. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved January 21, 2022, from http://archive.vn/2022.01.21-204138/https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/quote/BBY/holders?p=BBY&.tsrc=fin-srch&guccounter=1 ↩︎

  34. The Clorox Company (CLX) Stock Major Holders. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved February 28, 2022, from http://archive.vn/2022.02.28-192856/https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/quote/CLX/holders?p=CLX&guccounter=1 ↩︎

  35. DuPont de Nemours, Inc. (DD) Stock Major Holders. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from http://archive.vn/2022.01.18-084101/https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/quote/DD/holders?p=DD&.tsrc=fin-srch&guccounter=1 ↩︎

  36. EverlyWell - Funding, Financials, Valuation & Investors. Crunchbase. Retrieved January 4, 2023, from https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/everlywell/company_financials ↩︎

  37. FedEx Corporation (FDX) Stock Major Holders. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved January 19, 2022, from http://archive.vn/2022.01.19-084048/https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/quote/FDX/holders?p=FDX&.tsrc=fin-srch&guccounter=1 ↩︎

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