BlackRock is the world's largest publicly traded asset manager and owns the iShares ETF brand.
BlackRock was founded in 1988 by a group led by Larry Fink. It began with a focus on fixed-income and risk-management services, then expanded into a broad investment-management business serving institutions, governments, advisers, and individual investors.
Its iShares division is one of the world's best-known exchange-traded-fund businesses. BlackRock also operates Aladdin, a technology platform used for portfolio management and risk analysis by investment professionals.
BlackRock is frequently confused with Vanguard, another enormous asset manager. Vanguard is organized differently and is known for its investor-owned structure, whereas BlackRock is a publicly traded corporation. Assets under management and market capitalization are different measurements.