A system that practically predicts the future influence over global politics and a 10 trillion asset wallet this is the story of Black Rock and how they became the most overpowered company in the world black Rock's might black rock is the financial equivalent of the Incredible Hulk massive powerful and impossible I to ignore with $1 trillion in assets under management Black Rock controls more money than the GDP of Germany Japan and the UK combined if Black Rock were a country it would be the third largest economy on Earth just behind the United States and China no
that's not a joke that's a terrifying Fact one that makes black rock the most power ful organization you'd never want to mess with what makes black rock so mighty it's not just about the money although that helps it's about influence through its ownership stakes in some of the world's largest corporations Black Rock can sway decisions at Google Apple Exxon Mobile and pretty much any other company you can name Black Rock isn't just another big bank or hedge fund it's the god father of modern Finance quietly moving chess pieces while everyone else plays Checkers with this
level of power comes a seat at the table of global governance Black Rock doesn't just play on Wall Street it consults for governments including the US Treasury and during the 2008 financial crisis it was instrumental in managing government bailouts its reach extends into the halls of power in Europe Asia and Beyond if there's a major financial decision to be made black rock is likely whispering in someone's ear and while other financial institutions May collapse in tough times looking at you Layman Brothers black rock is too big to fail and some say too powerful to regulate
they're the ultimate Silent Partner making decisions that affect markets businesses and economies around the world but Black Rock wasn't always the giant it is today in fact their relatively humble beginning will instantly make your jaw drop especially considering that it all started three and a half decades ago as a riskmanagement project the origins before Black Rock was ruling the financial world like a Wall Street Darth Vader it it was just a scrappy little startup with Big Dreams And even bigger need for Redemption the year was 1988 and Larry thinkink The Man Who Would One Day
become synonymous with trillion doll management was nursing a bruised ego after a major Financial blunder what kind of blunder you ask oh just the small matter of losing $90 million while working at first Boston no biggie right just some pocket change but think didn't crawl under a rock instead he got mad mad enough to build what some would perceive as the Empire of evil apparently armed with his knowledge of risk management ironically the very thing that had caused him to lose all that money thinkink partnered with Blackstone and a handful of other financiers to start
Blackstone financial management soon to be renamed black Rock after a friendly little split with Blackstone took off by 1989 they were already managing $2.7 billion it turns out when you're really good at making sure money doesn't just disappear 90 million people trust you with their cash by the time the company went public in 1999 it had 165 billion in assets under management and Larry think was on his way to becoming the king of Finance but while think had conquered risk management Black Rock was just getting started now with its risk control Crown firmly in place
it was time to unleash the real secret weapon a piece of technology so powerful that it would soon be controlling trillions of dollars in assets worldwide yes we're talking about Aladdin and no there are no magic carpets just trillions upon trillions of dollars Aladdin system when people hear Aladdin they probably think of a magical genie granting wishes and to be honest they're not far off the truth Larry thinks Aladdin is practically the same only much more powerful I mean why settle for three wishes when you can have a system that manages $21 trillion in assets
that's right black Frog's Aladdin system is the technical backbone behind its Empire and it's more like a financial crystal ball than a lamp what is Aladdin really well in the simplest terms it's a riskmanagement system but calling Aladdin a risk management system is like calling the Hulk just a guy with a temper Aladdin is an allseeing all knowing Financial super Compu it tracks 250,000 trades a day monitors 30,000 portfolios and processes $21 trillion in assets worldwide it's so good at what it does that a 100 financial institutions including competitors actually rent out Aladdin to manage
their own portfolios that's like asking Iron Man to borrow his suit because your pajamas aren't cutting it anymore but Aladdin isn't just sitting behind a desk with a calculator it performs 170 calculations per week to sniff out potential risks and make sure black rocks clients don't find themselves waking up to financial nightmares in a world where one wrong move can cause markets to crash looking at you the 2008 financial crisis Aladdin is like a Fortune 500 insurance policy plus it doesn't hurt that every time a competitor uses a laddin black rock gets paid that's right
Black Rock profits from both using the system and letting others borrow it making it the Amazon of risk management and here's the kicker Aladdin is not just for nerdy Bankers it's for governments insurance companies and even Pension funds everyone from Wall Street Titans to retirement planners is entrusting their money to Black Rock's trusty AI assistant with its ability to predict the future of markets well almost Aladdin is the Invisible Hand guiding the financial world through its ups and downs still Aladdin was just the beginning as black Rock's Tech empire grew they set their sights on
dominating another game-changing Financial product the ETF ETFs and ey shares in 2009 Black Rock made a$ 13.5 billion acquisition of Barclay's Global Investors bgi instantly gaining control of ey shares the world's largest provider of exchange traded funds ETFs this was no ordinary acquisition it was like Black Rock had just bought the Golden Goose of the financial world with this move they position themselves as the Undisputed king of ETFs now what makes ETF so special they're essentially the fast food of Investments cheap convenient and easy to get instead of buying individual stocks investors can buy ETFs
which track indexes like s&p500 or focus on Niche sectors like clean energy or cyber security black rocks ey shares ETFs offered investors a buffet of options and soon everyone wanted a bite by cornering the ETF Market Black Rock didn't just influence stock exchanges it began controlling the financial diets of investors worldwide at this point Black Rock wasn't just managing assets they were building Financial highways for investors allowing Everyday People to invest like Wall Street pros and with Assets in ey shares now topping $3 trillion Black Rock had turned ETFs into one of its most significant
revenue streams their ETFs span across markets from basic commodity funds to highly specialized sectors in other words Black Rock doesn't just follow the market they shape it of course dominating the ETF Market wasn't enough Black Rock was already thinking about the next big move and it involved something even bigger acquiring merging and swallowing up companies like a financial black hole Acquisitions and mergers by the time Black Rock had locked down its ETF Empire it was like a kid in a candy store with a Billionaire's budget and no parental supervision but instead of grabbing candy bars
black rocks started grabbing entire companies and let's be clear Black Rock doesn't just buy companies it devours them adding more zeros to its assets with every acquisition the acquisition spree kicked off in 2004 with the purchase of State Street research and management which added a humble $ 325 billion to Black Rock's already growing portfolio think of it like they were upgrading from a family sedan to a private jet but that was only the appetizer in 2006 black rock merged with meril Lynch investment managers and suddenly they were managing 1 trillion in assets that's not just
an upgrade that's like going from riding a bicycle to owning the entire Tour de France but Black Rock was just getting started in 2009 they pulled off one of the biggest power moves in finance by acquiring Barkley's Global Investors bgi for 13.5 billion this deal gave them control of ey shares and catapulted their assets under management to an eyering $3 trillion it's like BlackRock woke up one day and decided hey what if we just owned the Financial universe and that's pretty much what happened they went from being a big player to the player the kind
of player that makes other Financial firms tremble At The Mention of their name now with 10 trillion dollar under their belt they started expanding Beyond stocks and bonds Black Rock branched into real estate scooping up centerbridge Partners Real Estate debt business because hey when you manage more money the most country's entire GDP why not throw in a few Office Buildings while you're at it they even dip their toes into infrastructure by acquiring Global infrastructure partners for $3 billion in 2021 because controlling the roads we drive on might as well be the next logical step these
Acquisitions weren't just about getting bigger they were about domination Black Rock didn't just want to play the financial game they wanted to own the board the dice and the rule book but with all that power black Rock's influence wasn't just limited to Wall Street it was about to stretch across the globe that's precisely when the true power of Black Rock started to shine black Rock's Global influence when you manage 10 trillion you don't just make waves you could control the tides by the time Black Rock was done gobbling up companies and expanding its Empire it
had something few companies ever achieve Global influence and I'm not talking about where a big deal on Wall Street kind of influence I'm talking about the we can shake governments and alter economies kind of influence it's like Larry thinkink woke up one day and decided to save the world by dangling trill millions of dollars in front of corporate CEOs his annual letters to the heads of the world's largest companies have become the corporate version of a Stern talking to from your grandma be good or we'll take our money elsewhere and since black rock is often
the largest shareholder in these companies that's not a threat it's a financial doomsday warning in other words Black Rock can strong arm CEOs into going green faster than a celebrity at a climate change Gala from pushing companies to adopt sustainable practices to flexing its Financial muscles on social issues black rock is basically the hall monitor of the corporate world mess with the environment or your employees expect Larry think to write you a Stern letter and maybe pull a few billion from your stock not a bad way to keep the playground in check and it's not
just the corporate world bending to Black Rock's will governments turned to them in moments of Crisis remember the 2008 financial meltdown well while the rest of us were wondering if our saving accounts would still exist Black Rock was quietly helping the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve managed the crisis you know you've made it when the most powerful economy on Earth is calling you for financial advice they didn't stop there black Crocs tentacles spread into European central banks Japan's Financial systems and Chinese markets advising on everything from stimulus packages to managing State funds basically if
there's a financial problem somewhere on the planet there's a good chance Larry thinkink and his gang of spreadsheet Wizards are sitting in a room somewhere holding a calculator and muttering we've got this black rock has influence over Pension funds Insurance Giants and Sovereign wealth funds around the world at this point if Black Rock isn't involved in your financial planning are you even planning anything at all but while they've been busy advising countries and saving economies it hasn't all been smooth sailing there's been more than a little controversy brewing and a few conspiracy theories to boot
turns out when you're this big you can't escape a few raised eyebrows controversies and criticisms when you're as big as Black Rock people don't just start whispering about you behind your back they start crafting full-blown conspiracy theories and let's be honest with 10 trillion in assets ties to governments and control over some of the largest companies in the world Black Rock has all the ingredients for a financial super villain in a Marvel movie one of the Ju IST conspiracies that black rock is actually the real Shadow government pulling all the strings forget about Illuminati black
rocks the one people imagine is controlling the economy politics and probably even the weather it's the theory that makes people wonder if Larry thinkink has a secret lair somewhere filled with monitors showing Global stock tickers while he Strokes a cat and cackles ominously it's almost funny Until you realize that black rock has advised governments like the US and European central banks during financial crisis making some conspiracy theorist's eyebrows raise higher than the S&P 500 during a market rally another controversy that frequently pops up is black Rock's involvement in the 2008 financial crisis cleanup during the
Meltdown while everyone else was wondering if their 401K had just turned into Monopoly money Black Rock was right in the thick of it the US government tapped them to help manage the toxic assets that nearly sank the global economy and while that sounds like a noble task cleaning up the mess Wall Street made some critics argued that black rock stood to gain too much power and influence in the process it's like asking the guy with the biggest broom to clean it up and then he buys your house in the process and let's not forget ESG
investing sure it sounds good on paper companies doing better by the environment and Society but some critics accuse Black Rock of virtue signaling claiming the company is more interested in profit than actually making a difference it's like saying we're doing it for the planet while making sure you're still raking in billions a win-win for Black Rock but a head scratcher for environmental purists then there's the market manipulation Theory some suggest that because black ma rock as stakes in so many companies it can move markets at the flick of a rist like a financial Puppet Master
want to make stocks go up push a few buttons need them to dip pull some strings critics worry that when you're that big it's hard to avoid accidentally controlling the world like it's one giant expensive game of Risk whether it's true or not the controversies and conspiracies surrounding Black Rock aren't going anywhere when you have the power to reshape markets advise governments and make CEOs shake in their boardroom chairs people are bound to come up with wild theories of course black rock is nothing more than an overe excited toddler when it comes to conspiracies after
all according to some or inspiring gentleman exquisitly dressed in tinfoil headwear the Roth Shields have been ruling the world for the past two centuries so Black Rock has a lot to learn and all of this because they were like Black Rock back in the day actually they are still among the richest families in the world and their secretive lifestyle still fuels the Mad dreams of some conspiracy theorists still if you want to learn the truth about how the Roth shields live their opulent lives I have a video just for you [Music]
