Apr
19
BlackRock Earnings Rise on Tide of E.T.F.’s and Index Funds
ByBlackRock’s chief executive, Laurence D. Fink, has decided to bet the firm’s future on systematic styles of investing that deploy machine-driven formulas. CreditGian Ehrenzeller/European Pressphoto Agency
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, continued to reap the benefits of the passive investing revolution in the first quarter of this year as investors stuck to ditching actively managed mutual funds for cheaper exchange-traded funds that track a variety of indexes.
The company said on Wednesday that it earned $862 million, or $5.23 a share, in the first quarter, up 31 percent from the same quarter a year earlier…