Laurence D. Fink built BlackRock into the world’s largest asset manager with a steely grip, a thick skin and a cleareyed vision of what the company could become.
Today, it’s a caretaker of $10.5 trillion of investor money and a provider of sophisticated trading technology, and Mr. Fink has been an informal financial adviser to many governments, including the United States.
They were on investors’ minds this week at BlackRock’s annual shareholder meeting, as they listened to Mr. Fink talk about the company’s performance and voted on ballot issues.
Mr. Fink, BlackRock’s chief executive and chairman, exerts an unusual level of control for someone leading a firm of its size, with nearly 20,000 employees.
From writing LinkedIn posts defending BlackRock’s policies to personally finding key deals, he has put his stamp all over the company, which he co-founded in 1988.
Persons:
Laurence D, Fink, it’s, Robert F, Kennedy Jr, . Fink
Organizations:
BlackRock
Locations:
United States