Larry Fink

He grew up as one of three children in a Jewish family in Van Nuys, California, where his mother Lila (1930–2012) was an English professor and his father Frederick (1925–2013) owned a shoe store.

Laurence Douglas Fink (born November 2, 1952) is an American billionaire businessman.

He is a co-founder, chairman and CEO of BlackRock, an American multinational investment management corporation.

BlackRock is the largest money-management firm in the world with more than US$10 trillion in assets under management.

In April 2022, Fink's net worth was estimated at US$1 billion according to Forbes.

He sits on the boards of the Council on Foreign Relations and World Economic Forum.

Fink was born on November 2, 1952.

He earned a BA in political science from UCLA in 1974.

Fink is also a member of Kappa Beta Phi.

He then received an MBA in real estate at the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 1976.

Fink started his career in 1976 at First Boston, a New York-based investment bank, where he was one of the first mortgage-backed security traders and eventually managed the firm's bond department.

At First Boston, Fink was a member of the management committee, a managing director, and co-head of the Taxable Fixed Income Division; he also started the Financial Futures and Options Department, and headed the Mortgage and Real Estate Products Group.

He was successful at the bank until 1986, when his department lost $100 million due to his incorrect prediction about interest rates.

The experience influenced his decision to start a company that would invest clients' money while also incorporating comprehensive risk management.

In 1988, under the corporate umbrella of The Blackstone Group, Fink co-founded BlackRock and became its director and CEO.

When BlackRock split from Blackstone in 1994, Fink retained his positions, becoming chairman in 1998, after BlackRock became independent.

His other positions at the company have included chairman of the board, chairman of the executive and leadership committees, chair of corporate council, and co-chair of the global client committee.

BlackRock went public in 1999.

In 2003, Fink helped to negotiate the resignation of the CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, Richard Grasso, who was widely criticized for his $190 million pay package.

In 2006 Fink led the merger with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, which doubled BlackRock's asset management portfolio.

That same year, BlackRock's $5.4 billion purchase of Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village, a Manhattan housing complex, became the largest residential-real-estate deal in U.S. history.

When the project ended in default, BlackRock clients lost their money, including the California Pension and Retirement System, which lost about $500 million.

The U.S. government contracted BlackRock to aid its recovery after the financial crisis of 2008.

Fink's longstanding relationships with senior government officials have led to questions about potential conflicts of interest regarding government contracts awarded without competitive bidding.

BlackRock's contract led to relationships with Obama's first Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and additional members of the Obama economic recovery team.

In December 2009, BlackRock purchased Barclays Global Investors, at which point the company became the largest money-management firm in the world.

Despite his great influence, Fink is not widely known publicly, apart from his regular appearances on CNBC.

Fink founded the Lori and Laurence Fink Center for Finance & Investments at UCLA Anderson in 2009, and currently serves as chairman of the board.

Vanity Fair reported, in 2010, that Fink had increased First Boston's assets by about $1 billion.

BlackRock paid Fink $23.6 million in 2010, and $36 million in 2021.

In 2016, Fink aspired to becoming Hillary Clinton's Treasury Secretary.

Blackrock also hired many former executive branch appointees to its firm, strengthening its association with the federal government.

By 2016, BlackRock had $5 trillion under management, with 12,000 employees in 27 countries.

In 2016, Fink received the ABANA Achievement Award in New York City.

It recognizes an individual who exemplifies outstanding leadership in banking and finance and has a commitment to positive professional cooperation between the US and the Middle East and North Africa.

In 2018, Fink was ranked #28 on the Forbes list of The World's Most Powerful People.

During the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 the Fed has turned to BlackRock to help it purchase distressed securities in an echo of 2008.

Fink serves on the board of trustees of New York University, where he holds various chairmanships including chair of the Financial Affairs Committee.

He also co-chairs the NYU Langone Medical Center board of trustees and is a trustee of the Boys and Girls Club of New York.

Fink is also on the board of the Robin Hood Foundation.