, Columnist
BlackRock Needs to Find Solid Ground
Competition in asset management is putting pressure on revenue.
Cutting costs will only get you so far.
Photographer: Gabriella Angotti-Jones/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
BlackRock used to be able to skip over market mayhem. Now it seems as if the ground is shifting under it.
The S&P 500 Index rose 13 percent in the first quarter, a big snap back from 2018, when it was down 6 percent. BlackRock’s earnings did fall last year, but the world’s largest asset-management firm was still able to produce a relatively impressive 4.5 percent increase in sales. That was something it was not able to reproduce in the first quarter. Sales fell 7 percent from a year ago, despite the rising market.