BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK)

BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager with over $10 trillion in assets under management u2014 more than the GDP of every country except the US and China. The company manages money for pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, and individual investors through its iShares ETF platform (the world's largest ETF provider), active funds, and alternatives. Larry Fink co-founded BlackRock in 1988 and has built it into the most powerful firm in global finance.

Management fees based on AUM u2014 BlackRock charges a percentage of assets managed, ranging from a few basis points for index ETFs to over 1% for alternative investments. iShares ETFs are the volume driver (low fees, massive scale). Technology services (Aladdin risk management platform, used by competitors and clients) add high-margin revenue. Annual revenue exceeds $18 billion.

Fink and seven partners founded BlackRock in 1988 as a fixed-income risk management firm within Blackstone Group. The company went public in 1999. The $13.5 billion Barclays Global Investors acquisition in 2009 (which included iShares) transformed BlackRock into the world's largest asset manager. BlackRock crossed $10 trillion in AUM in 2024. The Aladdin platform is used to manage over $21 trillion in assets (including by competitors).