January 15, 2025
(Bloomberg) -- BlackRock Inc. attracted an annual record of $641 billion in client cash, underlining the firm’s global reach across public and, increasingly, private assets as it integrates multibillion-dollar acquisitions and reshapes its leadership.
The tally included $390 billion flowing into its ETF business overall last year, $226 billion into equity funds and $164 billion into fixed-income, BlackRock said in a statement Wednesday announcing the full-year and quarterly earnings of the world’s largest asset manager.
Shares of BlackRock rose 3.4% to $996 at 10:43 a.m. in New York.
The yearly sum exceeds the entire assets of some smaller money managers, built over decades, and demonstrates BlackRock’s ability to continue to attract clients during volatile markets and intense industry competition and change.
BlackRock’s total assets stood at almost $11.6 trillion on Dec. 31 and are set to grow this year following a year of dramatic deal-making by Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink, who committed almost $30 billion in three transactions to transform the firm into a major player in alternative and private assets and data.
“This is just the beginning,” Fink said in the statement. “BlackRock enters 2025 with more growth and upside potential than ever.”
The asset manager also announced a management shakeup Wednesday, including the exit this spring of one of its most senior executives, Mark Wiedman. Once seen as a possible successor to Fink, Wiedman, 54, said he’s leaving BlackRock to pursue his “entrepreneurial roots,” though he hasn’t decided on a specific next move.
While Fink told CNBC that Wiedman’s exit isn’t about succession, the news raises questions about who will someday replace the 72-year-old CEO.
Along with the announcement about Wiedman, BlackRock said it’s elevating several senior executives to expand its business in the Americas and with key institutional clients.
The firm is also starting a “global partners office” to oversee business involving the biggest investors, including insurers and sovereign wealth funds, and companies and corporations looking to raise funds in capital markets.
BlackRock’s $201 billion of net flows into its long-term investment funds in the last three months of the year and the $281 billion of total net flows — which include cash-management products — for the quarter easily beat the $160 billion and $198 billion average estimates, respectively, of analysts survey by Bloomberg. Its bitcoin ETF, which started in early 2024, has grown rapidly to now have more than $50 billion in assets.
The firm’s adjusted net income per share for the quarter rose 23% from a year ago to $11.93 per share. Quarterly revenue rose 23% to nearly $5.7 billion from a year ago, and the firm’s total annual revenue crossed $20 billion last year, up 14% from 2023.
M&A Activity
Shares of BlackRock rose 26% in 2024, surpassing the 23% advance of the S&P 500 Index. They have fallen about 6% so far this year as of the market close on Tuesday, amid an equity market decline as investors wager the Federal Reserve will cut rates more slowly this year than they had thought only a few months ago.
The firm’s assets are set to grow considerably over the next few months with the announced deal to buy HPS Investment Partners, which manages roughly $150 billion and stands to propel BlackRock into the top leaders in private credit.
“For many companies, periods of M&A contribute to a pause in client engagement,” Fink said, adding that at the firm, instead, “client activity accelerated into the fourth quarter.”
The earnings show how the world’s largest asset manager is continuing to expand while many firms have struggled under the shift away from actively managed stock funds, poor investment returns and a third year of volatility in the bond market.
BlackRock is preparing to almost double its haul of alternative assets and compete against industry leaders Blackstone Inc., KKR & Co. and Apollo Global Management Inc.
The firm completed its $12.5 billion acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners in October and is in the process of closing a £2.55 billion ($3.1 billion) deal for data firm Preqin Ltd. Its $12 billion purchase of private-credit shop HPS will refashion the company’s ability to provide a full range of public bonds and private credit financing to borrowers across markets.
For now, BlackRock isn’t in the market for buying more whole companies, Fink told CNBC.
(Updates with context about management shakeup and acquisitions throughout.)
