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BlackRock

BlackRock Inc. is an American global investment management corporation based in New York City.1) It is the world's largest asset manager, with US$10 trillion in assets under management as of January 2022.2)

BlackRock operates globally with 70 offices in 30 countries and clients in 100 countries. Because of its vast economic and political influence, BlackRock is considered a “secret world power” on its own.3) 4) 5)

Affiliations

Supra-National Organizations

Atlantic Council

BlackRock is associated with the Atlantic Council, having been included on the Chairman’s Circle of their Corporate Members Program as of August 2020.6) The company had donated at least $50,000.00 – $99,000.00 to the Atlantic Council as of 2019.7)

World Economic Forum

BlackRock is a member organization of the World Economic Forum.8) The company's founder, Larry Fink, sits on the WEF Board of Trustees.9) 10)

Partnerships

Microsoft

In April 2020, BlackRock and Microsoft announced a strategic partnership where BlackRock’s Aladdin infrastructure will be hosted on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform to “enable continuous innovation in the financial services industry”. The two companies also outlined plans to work together on initiatives that leverage technology to improve and expand standardized, high-quality sustainability data and analytics.11)

Coinbase

On August 4, 2022, Coinbase announced it had partnered with BlackRock to offer cryptocurrency trading services to its wealthy clients.12) Part of the deal involved allowing users of BlackRock's Aladdin management platform to purchase Bitcoin through Coinbase Prime, with access to other altcoins coming at a future date.

Global Corporate Ownership

BlackRock owns controlling shares in many of the large corporations that make up the world economy. At the end of 2014, the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute reported that 65% of Blackrock's assets under management were made up of institutional investors like pension funds and sovereign wealth funds from oil producing states.13)

Name Headquarters Industry Notes
Airbnb14) United States Lodging/Tourism -
Best Buy15) United States Retail Major shareholders are Vanguard, BlackRock, JP Morgan Chase, State Street, Bank of America, and Charles Schwab.
Clorox16) United States Consumer Manufacturing Major shareholders are BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street and Wells Fargo.
DuPont de Nemours17) United States Chemical -
FedEx18) 19) United States Shipping -
Kellogg's20) United States Food -
La-Z-Boy21) United States Furniture Manufacturer -
Mastercard22) United States Finance Funder of the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator23)
Tempur Sealy24) United States Furniture Manufacturer -
Vertex Pharmaceuticals25) United States Pharmaceutical -

Influence

Journalist Heike Buchter concludes from her research in the German newspaper Handelsblatt that “no government, no authority has such a comprehensive and deep insight into the global financial and corporate world as BlackRock.”26)

An article published in 2018 in The Journal of Finance, Anticompetitive Effects of Common Ownership, by Jose Azar, Martin C. Schmalz, and Isabel Tecu, criticizes the empirical effect of large exchange-traded fund (ETF)-providers, namely BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, as measured against assets managed by the largest providers based on the competitive behavior between the companies. As a result of this dominant market position, competition in the market price for goods or services only takes place only to a limited extent.27) According to the study, prices are about 11% higher at the expense of consumers.

In September 2019, the Center for Accountability published a report that examines BlackRock's lobbying activities in the United States and shows that BlackRock has visibly expanded its lobbying activities and donations to politicians since the 2008 financial crisis.28) According to the report, BlackRock tried to be classified by the US authorities as “non-systemically important” in order to avoid closer monitoring by state actors.29) The report concludes that “while BlackRock claims to be concerned with socially conscious behaviour, it has embraced policies that could put American consumers at risk. BlackRock's political influence could soon grow to match its power in the financial marketplace.”

Drivers of Propaganda

1)
Feuer, W. (2021, November 5). Striking Alabama mine workers arrested in NYC outside BlackRock HQ. New York Post. https://archive.ph/2Lpdx
2)
Barrabi, T. (2022, January 18). BlackRock CEO says stakeholder capitalism isn’t “woke,” just good business. New York Post. https://archive.ph/eYChv/
3)
BlackRock. WikiSpooks. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://archive.ph/m2WLN
4)
Mariotti, G. (2020, July 1). BlackRock - Die unheimliche Macht eines Finanzkonzerns. Doku von ARTE - Deutsch. YouTube. https://archive.ph/b7AQG
5)
Cristián, R. (2020, June 18). The COVID Coup: The BlackRock Takeover Of American Interests. The Last American Vagabond. https://archive.ph/hWl2R
7)
Honor roll of contributors. Atlantic Council. Retrieved January 19, 2022, from https://archive.ph/0socH
8)
BlackRock. (2021, June 10). World Economic Forum. https://archive.ph/pcpjt
9)
Leadership and Governance. (2021, November 25). World Economic Forum. https://archive.ph/SWPYW
10)
World Economic Forum/Board of Trustees. (2021, November 30). WikiSpooks. https://archive.ph/BDIZC
11)
BlackRock and Microsoft form strategic partnership to host Aladdin on Azure as BlackRock readies Aladdin for next chapter of innovation. (2020, April 7). Microsoft News Center. https://archive.ph/QjKGs
12)
Daily Hodl Staff. (2022, August 4). US Crypto Exchange Giant Coinbase Signs Huge Deal With Investment Firm BlackRock. The Daily Hodl. https://web.archive.org/web/20220810020815/https://dailyhodl.com/2022/08/04/us-crypto-exchange-giant-coinbase-signs-huge-deal-with-investment-firm-blackrock/
13)
Is BlackRock Too Big? (2015, February 10). Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute; Wayback Machine. https://web.archive.org/web/20150210074716/http://www.swfinstitute.org/swf-article/is-blackrock-too-big/
14)
Airbnb, Inc. (ABNB) Stock Major Holders. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://archive.ph/VcNHl
15)
Best Buy Co., Inc. (BBY) Stock Major Holders. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved January 21, 2022, from https://archive.ph/mqaY9
16)
The Clorox Company (CLX) Stock Major Holders. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved February 28, 2022, from https://archive.ph/dBlK7
17)
DuPont de Nemours, Inc. (DD) Stock Major Holders. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://archive.ph/J0uaY
18)
FedEx Corporation (FDX) Stock Major Holders. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved January 19, 2022, from https://archive.ph/iQCto
19) , 29)
Campaign for Accountability. (2019). How the Asset Manager Boosted its Political Spending and Fought off Government Supervision. https://campaignforaccountability.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/CfA-BlackRock-Pay-to-Play-9-5-19.pdf
20)
Kellogg Company (K) Stock Major Holders. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://archive.ph/AbkcK
21)
La-Z-Boy Incorporated (LZB) Stock Major Holders. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://archive.ph/QMXwp
22)
Mastercard Incorporated (MA) Stock Major Holders. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://archive.ph/OdFZ1
23)
Suzman, M. (2020, March 10). Announcing the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. https://archive.ph/Z8Q5l
24)
Tempur Sealy International, Inc. (TPX) Stock Major Holders. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://archive.ph/CVDi2
25)
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (VRTX) Stock Major Holders. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://archive.ph/n8mpv
26)
Buchter, H. BlackRock-Chef Larry Fink: Der Vier-Billionen-Dollar-Mann. Handelsblatt. Retrieved January 19, 2022, from https://archive.ph/R3xq8
27)
Azar, J., Schmalz, M. C., & Tecu, I. (2018). Competitive Effects of Common Ownership: Evidence from the Airline Industry. SSRN Electronic Journal, 73(4). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2427345
28)
Dewan, B. (2019, September 5). New Report Details How BlackRock Fought Off Government Regulation by Spending Big in Washington. Campaign for Accountability. https://archive.ph/xN8DE
30)
Cooperman, J. (2021, September 15). How a Company Called BlackRock Shapes Your News, Your Life, Our Future. Common Reader; Washington University in St. Louis. https://archive.ph/NqHQZ
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