BlackRock is the world’s largest asset management firm, overseeing roughly $14 trillion in client investments as of late 2024. Founded in 1988 by Larry Fink and seven partners, the company manages money on behalf of pension funds, governments, endowments, insurance companies, and everyday investors. Its sheer scale and influence over global markets have made it one of the most discussed, and sometimes controversial, names in finance.
How BlackRock Makes Money
BlackRock’s core business is straightforward: it invests other people’s money and charges a fee based on how much it manages. Total revenue reached $7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024 alone, nearly all of it tied to the size of the assets in its care. The more money that flows in and the higher markets climb, the more BlackRock earns.
The company operates across several major lines of business. Its largest revenue engine is exchange-traded funds, sold under the iShares brand, which pull in hundreds of billions of dollars in new investor money each year. BlackRock also runs traditional index funds, actively managed stock and bond portfolios, and a growing private markets business that invests in real estate, infrastructure, and other assets not traded on public exchanges. Private market investments generate significantly higher fees per dollar managed than ETFs, which is why BlackRock has been expanding aggressively into areas like data centers and power infrastructure tied to artificial intelligence.
Performance fees, which BlackRock collects when certain funds beat their benchmarks, added $754 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, a 67% jump from the prior year, largely driven by private market returns.
What iShares ETFs Are
If you own an index fund or ETF in a brokerage or retirement account, there’s a decent chance it’s an iShares product. BlackRock’s iShares franchise has surpassed $5 trillion in assets, accounting for about 29% of the entire $17.7 trillion global ETF market. That means nearly one in three dollars invested in ETFs worldwide sits in a BlackRock fund.
ETFs are baskets of stocks, bonds, or other assets that trade on exchanges like individual stocks. iShares funds cover virtually every corner of the market: U.S. large caps, international stocks, government bonds, corporate debt, commodities, and sector-specific slices like technology or healthcare. Because most iShares funds passively track an index rather than trying to beat it, their fees are low, often under 0.10% per year. That combination of low cost and broad selection has made iShares the default choice for millions of individual investors and financial advisors.
The Aladdin Platform
Beyond managing money directly, BlackRock operates a technology platform called Aladdin (short for Asset, Liability, Debt and Derivative Investment Network). Aladdin is portfolio management and risk analysis software that helps institutional investors monitor their holdings, model potential risks, and execute trades across asset classes.
BlackRock uses Aladdin internally, but it also licenses the platform to other financial institutions. Major asset managers, including Franklin Templeton, have adopted Aladdin to unify their own investment operations. This means BlackRock’s technology infrastructure touches far more money than even the $14 trillion it manages itself. For BlackRock, Aladdin creates a steady stream of technology revenue and deepens its relationships with the broader financial industry.
Who Owns BlackRock
BlackRock is a publicly traded company, listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BLK. Its shares are widely held by institutional investors like mutual funds, pension systems, and other asset managers, along with individual shareholders. Larry Fink, who has served as CEO since the firm’s founding, remains the most prominent figure associated with the company. Because BlackRock is publicly traded, anyone can buy its stock through a brokerage account.
An important distinction that often gets lost in public debate: BlackRock does not own the trillions of dollars it manages. It invests that money on behalf of clients, primarily large institutions like state pension funds for teachers and firefighters. BlackRock earns fees for the service, but the underlying assets belong to the clients.
Why BlackRock Draws Criticism
A firm managing $14 trillion inevitably attracts scrutiny, and BlackRock has faced criticism from multiple, sometimes opposing, directions.
For several years, BlackRock positioned itself as a leader in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing, with Larry Fink writing high-profile annual letters urging corporate leaders to address climate risk. In 2021, BlackRock voted in favor of 47% of shareholder proposals addressing environmental and social issues. By the 2023-2024 proxy season, that number had dropped to just 4%. The company’s global head of investment stewardship defended the shift by saying many proposals had become overly prescriptive or lacked economic merit.
That reversal drew sharp criticism from environmental advocates who saw it as a retreat from meaningful climate commitments. At the same time, conservative politicians had already been attacking BlackRock from the opposite direction, accusing the firm of practicing “woke capitalism” by using its voting power to push social agendas. At least 20 states enacted laws prohibiting public pension funds from investing in ESG-focused products, pressured by groups like the Heritage Foundation. BlackRock found itself caught between two camps: too activist for one side, not activist enough for the other.
A separate line of criticism centers on concentration of power. Because BlackRock, along with a small number of other giant asset managers, holds significant voting stakes in nearly every major publicly traded company, some academics and policymakers worry about the effects on competition. When the same few firms are top shareholders in competing airlines, banks, or tech companies, the concern is that corporate leaders may feel less pressure to compete aggressively on price. BlackRock argues it votes shares in the interest of its clients and does not seek to control the companies in its portfolios.
How BlackRock Affects Everyday Investors
You don’t need to have a direct relationship with BlackRock for its decisions to affect your finances. If you contribute to a 401(k), a state pension plan, or a college savings account, some of your money likely flows through BlackRock funds. Many target-date retirement funds offered by employers include iShares ETFs as building blocks.
For individual investors choosing their own funds, BlackRock’s main impact is practical: iShares ETFs are among the cheapest and most liquid options available. A fund like the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF charges just a few basis points per year, which means you keep more of your returns. The competitive pressure BlackRock has put on the broader fund industry has helped drive fees down across the board, benefiting investors regardless of which company’s funds they choose.