Goldman, BlackRock CEOs Predict Massive Growth in Alternatives

We just got a letter. Wonder who it’s from … No, wait, there are two letters, and they’re from our friends Larry Fink and David Solomon.

Top asset managers Goldman Sachs and BlackRock published their annual reports to shareholders recently, featuring missives from their CEOs, and there’s good news. Goldman’s asset and wealth management unit has been on a tear that the investment bank expects to continue, thanks to new partnerships and acquisitions that focus heavily on their alternative offerings. Management fees and fees from alternatives increased more than 8% year over year to $2.37 billion in 2025. Alternatives alone saw record inflows of $115 billion last year. Looking ahead, Goldman believes it can bring between $75 and $100 billion of new client assets every year into alternative investments. By 2030, Goldman expects alternative assets under supervision to reach $750 billion.

“We expect further growth from here,” Solomon wrote. “Specifically, we are broadening our client base by increasing the number of advisors and content specialists globally.” Over the next three to five years, the firm is targeting a return of 17% to 19% for its asset and wealth management division. 

A Game of Strategy

Goldman’s asset and wealth unit was bolstered in 2025 by a handful of strategic partnerships and acquisitions:

• Last September, Goldman partnered with T. Rowe Price to offer mass affluent and high-net-worth clients wealth and retirement products that have access to private markets. 
• In December, the investment bank also announced that it will purchase Innovator Capital Management. Once the deal closes, Goldman is expected to be the second-largest asset manager of active ETFs. 
• And at the start of this year, Goldman closed on its acquisition of Industry Ventures, a venture capital platform, which will bolster the investment bank’s alternative offerings. 

“While the bar for M&A remains very high, we will continue to look for ways to accelerate growth in AWM,” the Goldman report said. 

You’ve Got More Mail. In a separate letter to shareholders this week, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink highlighted his firm’s goals for alternatives. 

“We’re seeing excellent fundraising activity,” he said. “We have an ambitious 2026 fundraising plan diversified across infrastructure equity and debt, private financing solutions and multi-alternatives as we progress toward our goal of $400 billion in private markets gross fundraising by 2030.”