BlackRock launched the iShares exchange-traded fund brand and became one of the world's largest investment firms by market capitalization.
BlackRock was founded in 1988 by Larry Fink and partners as a fixed-income and risk-management business. It expanded into a global asset manager serving institutions, governments, financial advisers, and individual investors.
The company acquired the iShares exchange-traded fund business from Barclays in 2009. iShares funds track indexes, sectors, commodities, bonds, and other markets, allowing investors to buy and sell diversified portfolios on stock exchanges.
BlackRock manages client assets but does not own all of those assets for itself. This distinction matters: assets under management can be many times larger than the firm's own market capitalization. BlackRock is also different from Vanguard, which is organized around a mutual ownership structure, and State Street, another major provider of exchange-traded funds and custody services.