Larry Fink Made BlackRock a Champion Money Manager. He Sees More Opportunities in China.
Larry Fink, BlackRock CEO since 1988
Photo Illustration by Hayley Warnham; Reference: Michael Cohen/Getty Images/The New York Times
It’s no surprise that BlackRock posted healthy gains in revenue, profits, and assets under management last year. A liquidity-fueled everything rally has been broadly kind to money managers. But BlackRock grew twice as fast as the industry, and a rising percentage of its top customers are using several of its products.
Under founder-CEO Larry Fink, 68, BlackRock has used its scale to its advantage. It has driven down costs for iShares exchange-traded funds, turned its Aladdin portfolio software into an industry top seller, and used fast-growing alternative assets to offer yield when bonds look bubbly. In a recent conversation with Barron’s, Fink was particularly bullish on opportunities in China. “They’re the largest savers in the world, but all the money is in a bank account,” he says.
Fink says BlackRock will soon announce “a couple of big wins” for its Lifepath Paycheck funds, which convert retirement savings into steady annuity payments. On meme trading and the crypto craze, he says “if it translates into better financial literacy and more savings for retirement, that’s a good thing.” And after years of writing annual letters urging fellow CEOs to consider environmental and social goals, he says they’re now moving quickly.
Write to Jack Hough at [email protected]
