'Aladdin,' which stands for the asset, liability, debt, and derivative investment network, is BlackRock's central software system that models, forecasts, and provides an operating system.

BlackRock acquired Merrill Lynch's asset management division, bringing in more than $500B in assets and pushing the firm's total assets under management above $1T in 2006.

Explore a tool that shows how much stake large asset managers, including BlackRock, hold in public companies.

Larry Fink cofounded BlackRock with a $5M investment from Blackstone cofounder Stephen Schwarzman in 1988, before officially severing ties with Blackstone in 1994.

BlackRock played an integral role in the Federal Reserve's response to the Great Recession, managing about $30B of hard-to-sell Bear Stearns assets on behalf of the New York Fed.

The 'Big Three' asset managers—Vanguard, State Street, and BlackRock—collectively manage more than $30T in assets and are the largest shareholders in roughly 88% of all the companies listed on the S&P 500.

BlackRock sponsored the Federal Reserve's purchasing of corporate debt through exchange-traded funds during the COVID-19 pandemic, while it simultaneously sold some of its own shares on the secondary market—sparking controversy over potentially unfair advantages.

Track all of the acquisitions in BlackRock's history, from eFront to Preqin.

BlackRock says investor demand and improvements in underlying fund technology have supercharged ETF availability in 2025

Investors are likely most familiar with ETFs that invest in an index or other grouping of stocks. However, BlackRock breaks down a wide variety of options, including commodity ETFs, currency ETFs, and bond ETFs.

Asset location is the type of account an asset is placed in

Investors are likely familiar with “asset allocation,” creating an ideal mix of different asset types in an individual's portfolio. But asset location matters just as much for investors who are conscious of how much they owe in capital gains taxes.

Listen to a sit-down interview with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink to learn more about his background, the lessons he's learned throughout his career, and his outlook for the future.

Apollo Global Management and Blackstone are among the world's top 20 private credit fund managers

While Blackstone is the world's largest alternative asset manager, Apollo Global Management is a large private equity firm. Apollo had $480B in private credit assets under management as of January 2025.

In 2023, BlackRock founder Larry Fink turned from an outspoken champion of the 'environmental, social, and governance' (ESG) framework to a critic.

Some private credit funds trade on the stock market

These funds, which trade at market prices, are called "public BDCs," which stands for "business development companies." For instance, the global alternative investment manager Ares Management Corp. has a public BDC.

Since the 1990s, banks have sold some of the credit risk of their accounts to external investors, known as SRTs, or synthetic risk transfers

This means if the account defaults, the outside investors assume most of the risk in return for some regular payments, freeing up the bank's ledger. It is a form of insurance used by banks to allow them to free up capital. In 2024, nearly $100B worth of SRT notes were sold.

In 2025, sovereign wealth funds invested more than $66B into artificial intelligence

Developing artificial intelligence, both from a hardware and software perspective, is time and resource-intensive. Sovereign wealth funds, particularly those in the Middle East, have heavily invested in critical AI infrastructure, like data centers.

Palantir's services allow both companies and the government to analyze complex data

There's a common misconception that Palantir buys, sells, and shares data, but Palantir insists it isn't a data broker. Rather, Palantir is more like a data analytics company that allows corporations and government agencies to combine messy, large, and often hard to access datasets to gather insights.

The do's and don'ts of using AI to manage your finances

Experts suggest avoiding asking AI for investment advice, but say it's useful for basic budgeting help. Read this article to learn more.

Visualizing the AI investment wave

This data visualization from Reuters shows how massive AI investment has become by December 2025—revealing that, in today’s dollars, spending has surpassed the combined total of the Apollo program and the Manhattan Project.

Capital assets include investments from stocks to fine jewelry

Capital assets can be classified as property owned and used for personal or investment reasons. If a capital asset grows in value and the holder decides to sell it, their “capital gains” would be roughly the difference between the original purchase price and the amount of money they sold the asset for.

AI could be increasing the opportunities for financial fraud

Systems that can reproduce near perfect counterfeits of legitimate financial documents are increasingly prevalent and sophisticated. The international Association of Certified Fraud Examiners estimate organizations lose about 5% of revenue to fraud each year.

One $100 investment in the Medallion Fund skyrockets over time

The Medallion Fund, the famously secretive quant fund that invests billions of dollars for the partners and employees of a single firm with a legendary track record, has trounced the market for more than three decades. While its results are an extreme outlier, this visualization showcases the power of compound interest.

AI may help the 1.4 billion people worldwide who lack access to basic financial services

Artificial intelligence is fuelling a financial technology transformation in some countries where an outsized number of residents lack access to basic financial services, including Brazil and Nigeria.

Palantir's software is widely speculated to have enabled Osama bin Laden's assassination

While Palantir has never publicly confirmed the use of its software in the 2011 assassination, its technology is widely speculated to have been a critical aspect of the operation. However, Palantir executives have never denied the claim, either, and have frequently commented on the software's important role in defending Western civilizations from terrorism.

AI excels at assisting with structured tasks involving logistics and planning

Tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity can help organize chaotic calendars, troubleshoot bedtime routines, and assist with salary planning and moving. However, specific quotes, like insurance, and local cost comparisons can be flawed since AI draws from nonlocalized datasets.

Listen to BlackRock's head of behavioral finance, Emily Haisley, explain the psychology of investing—including controlling biases, managing ego, and being prepared for volatility.

Play a game that reveals if investors with a crystal ball make better trades

The "crystal ball" game reveals how well you would do trading stocks and bonds if you could see the front page of the Wall Street Journal one day in advance.

Coca-Cola operates under an asset-light, divided structure

The "company" manages the brand itself, as well as its secret formula and syrup production. The capital-intensive "system" of independent bottlers, on the other hand, handles manufacturing and distribution.

Watch Ray Dalio break down his 'holy grail' investment strategy

As a hedge fund manager, Dalio's investment strategy relies on insulating investments from economic downturns. To do this, Dalio attempts to diversify investments as much as possible while considering the correlation between industries and markets.