BlackRock Assets Surge Above $14 Trillion After Record Quarter
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BlackRock reported record quarterly inflows on Thursday, pushing its assets under management above $14tn for the first time.
The world’s largest asset manager said it received an influx of $342bn in the three months to the end of December, eclipsing Wall Street forecasts, driven largely by its equity and fixed-income businesses. In the full year, clients committed almost $700bn to the company.
A rally in the value of global stocks bolstered the value of the money BlackRock managed for clients by a further $265bn, helping lift its overall assets under management above the $13.9tn analysts expected.
“BlackRock enters 2026 with accelerating momentum across our entire platform, coming off the strongest year and quarter of net inflows in our history,” chief executive Larry Fink said.
The New York-headquartered company reported $123bn of flows into its equity exchange traded fund franchise, propelling the unit above $4tn for the first time. Fixed-income ETFs attracted a further $52bn of inflows.
Together, the ETF inflows more than offset modest withdrawals by institutions that invest in BlackRock’s active equity portfolios.
BlackRock’s growth in the quarter included its deal to take over management of about $80bn of assets on behalf of Citigroup’s wealthiest clients, one of the biggest outsourcing mandates in the industry in recent years.
The asset manager also reported strong inflows to its fast-growing business investing in private markets, with its private credit business attracting $7.2bn and its infrastructure investment unit drawing in close to $5bn.
“We’re seeing excellent fundraising activity as we work toward our goal of $400bn in private markets fundraising by 2030,” Fink added.
The company, which had long been tethered to the rise of public markets and index investing, is in the midst of a years-long evolution as it seeks to become a key player in the private investment industry.
Fink has struck a trio of deals over the past two years as part of the effort, spending nearly $30bn to buy the infrastructure investment group Global Infrastructure Partners, the private investment shop HPS Investment Partners and the data provider Preqin.
Products from these, such as HPS’s flagship $25bn corporate direct lending fund known as HLEND, generate higher fees than the low-cost ETFs that BlackRock helped popularise on Wall Street and with individual investors.
The company said organic base-fee growth, which measures the increase of the management fees BlackRock earns, rose at an annualised rate of 12 per cent in the fourth quarter, above its targets.
Total revenue rose 23 per cent from a year earlier to $7bn, lifting net sales for the full year to $24.2bn. Net profits dropped by a third in the quarter to $1.1bn, driven by higher employee compensation costs and charges tied to its acquisition spree.
BlackRock shares rose 2 per cent in pre-market trading on Thursday.