‘Just the Beginning’: BlackRock CEO Hails Record Revenues, Assets, Inflows

The asset manager announced annual revenues rose 14%, topping $20 billion for the first time, with record net inflows of $641 billion.

Photo of a BlackRock office
Photo by Hapabapa via iStock

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BlackRock put up records like a financial Usain Bolt on Wednesday.

The asset manager announced 2024 full-year revenues rose 14%, topping $20 billion for the first time. Net inflows, the amount of client cash coming in, hit an all-time high of $641 billion. Assets reached a record $11.6 trillion in the fourth quarter, from $10.01 trillion a year earlier. 

“This is just the beginning,” CEO Larry Fink, 72, said in a statement. But who runs this firm beyond its “beginning” became murkier in one very notable way, creating another Wall Street succession drama.

Shuffling and Succession

The present, meanwhile, has never looked this good. The record inflow tally included $390 billion to BlackRock’s exchange-traded fund business last year, $226 billion to its equity funds, and $164 billion to its fixed-income investment strategies. The firm also built up more than $50 billion in assets at iShares Bitcoin Trust in less than a year.

The windfall justifies the gain in BlackRock’s shares, which rose 26% last year to beat the S&P 500 by three points. And things are still looking up. The second Trump administration is expected to lower corporate taxes and cut red tape, opening the door to even more buoyant conditions. The question hanging over the company now is who will be the next captain of the ship when Fink decides to hang up his boots:

  • Once thought to be a leading candidate to follow Fink as CEO, senior executive Mark Wiedman announced Wednesday that he will leave BlackRock later this year, citing a desire to return to his “entrepreneurial roots.”
  • While Fink said a group of executives will take on new and expanded roles, there is no clear frontrunner to succeed the septuagenarian, who has personally said people should work beyond the 65-year retirement age and has no immediate plans to take up pickleball full-time.

In fact, Fink’s still busy growing BlackRock: Its banner year included firming up its place in white hot private markets by purchasing infrastructure investment fund Global Infrastructure Partners and agreeing to buy private credit firm HPS. “For many companies, periods of M&A contribute to a pause in client engagement,” Fink wrote. “At BlackRock, clients are instead embracing and rewarding our strategy.”

End of a Green Deal: Blackstone’s influence was on display when Net-Zero Asset Manager, an asset management industry initiative to support climate efforts, said it was suspending operations earlier this week, just days after BlackRock withdrew. NZAM’s website said it had more than 325 signatories overseeing $57.5 trillion in assets before it shut down.