Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that the last six months have been extremely tumultuous for the financial markets. The bull market of the pandemic is well and truly over. Inflation is rife and a recession is threatening, with the correction being felt by everyone from your local milkbar to the investment firm BlackRock, which has confirmed US$1.7 trillion (AU$2.46 trillion) lost in the first half of 2022.
As the largest asset manager in the world, BlackRock Inc. has enjoyed tremendous success over the years, being the first firm to count US$10 trillion under management (in Q4 2021) and even being tasked with helping the US Government resolve the fallout from the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. However, no one has been able to completely escape the carnage the markets have seen over the last six months, which has decimated everything from crypto and NFTs to Tesla and Amazon.
Today, BlackRock’s assets under management have fallen 11% when compared to last year, counting US$8.49 trillion (AU$12.3 trillion) all up, which has seen the firm pull back on hiring. When compared to 2021, BlackRock’s adjusted profit is down from US$1.61 billion and US$10.45 per share (AU$1.61 billion and AU$15.14), to a 2022 low of US$1.12 billion and $7.36 per share (AU$1.6 billion and AU$10.66 per share).