BlackRock

BlackRock appears in Vanguard as the large asset manager that became the dominant ETF force after acquiring iShares from Barclays in 2009. The episode uses BlackRock as a contrast with Vanguard: both can compete on passive products, but BlackRock’s economics come from a broader asset-management and platform structure rather than Fundholder Mutual Ownership.

BlackRock also matters through Salim Ramji, formerly head of iShares, becoming Vanguard’s first outside CEO in 2024. That succession raises the source’s central strategic question: whether Vanguard can improve technology, service, advisory, fixed income, retirement, and private-market access without weakening the ownership structure and fee discipline that made it distinctive.

Key Claims

• BlackRock is the main ETF-scale competitor in the episode’s post-2009 market structure.
• Its iShares business shows how ETFs became an industry center of gravity after Vanguard initially rejected the format.
• The Ramji hire imports ETF and platform experience into Vanguard while testing Strategy Follows Structure.

Connections

• Vanguard, State Street, and Fidelity - competing asset-management and distribution models.
• Salim Ramji - former iShares leader who became Vanguard CEO.
• Passive Investing, Passive Investing Governance, and Financial Platform Incentives - source concepts connected to BlackRock’s scale.