BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) solidified its dominance as the world’s largest asset manager on Thursday, reporting that assets under management (AUM) reached a historic $14 trillion.
The milestone follows a "blockbuster" year of growth, capped by record fourth-quarter net inflows of $342 billion as institutional and retail investors flooded into the firm’s iShares ETFs and private market offerings.
The New York-based firm reported fourth-quarter net income of $1.13 billion, or $7.16 per share.
On an adjusted basis, excluding non-recurring items and costs related to its aggressive acquisition strategy—including the integration of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and HPS Investment Partners—earnings were $13.16 per share.
This comfortably cleared the $12.39 consensus estimate among analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.
Revenue for the quarter climbed to $7.01 billion, an increase of 23% compared to the prior-year period, also exceeding Street forecasts of $6.75 billion.
The growth was driven by a 12% annualized organic base fee expansion, reflecting broad strength across systematic active equities, technology services, and the firm’s burgeoning private credit business.