BlackRock

(NYSE: BLK · $1083.92 ▲ 0.1%) BlackRock is a global asset manager and technology provider that describes its purpose as helping more and more people experience financial well-being. The company helps millions of people invest to build savings intended to serve them throughout their lives. Asset managers of this kind pool and invest money on behalf of individuals and institutions such as pension plans, insurers and wealth managers, earning fees tied to the assets they oversee.

BlackRock's stated approach as a fiduciary is to start with clients' needs and to offer them more choices for how and where to invest their money. Its global investments platform offers clients access to the world's markets, with the aim of making investing easier and more affordable through simple, low-cost investment solutions. The company combines its technology with global expertise intended to help clients navigate investment risks and opportunities in changing markets. Firms that pair investment products with risk and portfolio technology can serve end investors while also supplying those tools to other financial institutions. BlackRock also publishes research, including a weekly market commentary from its investment experts.

BlackRock began in 1988 with eight people in a single room, and its founders set out to put clients' needs and interests first, with a focus on understanding and managing risk. Today it employs more than 24,000 people, serves clients in more than 100 languages and operates in 41 locations across the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Through investment stewardship, it engages with business leaders on topics such as board performance and corporate strategy at companies its clients invest in. Such stewardship is common practice among large asset managers, whose clients' money is typically spread across a broad range of listed companies.