Hi,
Getting on in years now, and a lot of this "stuff" is confusing.
Merrill Lynch changed the name, apparently, for two funds I have had for many, many years, on their Municipal Bond Fund-Insured, and their Basic Value Fund to Black Rock...
Who is Black Rock ?
Is it a subsidiary of ML, or... ?
Much thanks, Bob
The trend seems to be to find someone to manage money.
The following is from the Black Rock Web site.
Our firm?s ownership structure is designed to maintain the independence we believe is necessary to retain our commitments to client focus and investment excellence. BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) has no single majority stockholder and has a majority of independent directors. Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation, The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. and Barclays PLC own economic interests in BlackRock approximating 7.1%, 20.3% and
19.7%, respectively, with the remainder owned by institutional and individual investors, as well as BlackRock employees.
Apparently, it's the world's biggest asset manager that retail investors have never heard of!
They are almost inconceivably big - $3.5+ trillion under management. They started as a bond manager and grew over the years; the big pop in assets was when they bought BGI (of iShares) from Barclay's, when Barclay's blew up and was scrambling to shed assets. BGI was at the time one of the world's biggest asset managers, alongside iShares they handle a big pile of institutional money.
My view is that BlackRock needs to be watched. How does a firm that big deal with all of the internal conflicts of interest among the pools they manage? That said, I invest in many of their products.
-Tad
What, in this "Free Market", "all regulation is bad", and "the invisible hand financial culture", you want a $3.5T entity to be "watched"? Don't you know that those financial wizards can do their own thing and always watch out for the little guy. What could go wrong?
Chip
Besides, if the wizards are not watched and they go wild with ventures that increase their own profits and allow them to accumulate vast personal wealth at the expense of the investors, a lot ofl that wealth will eventually TRICKLE DOWN and help the little guy.
BeanSmart website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.