BlackRock delivered differentiated organic growth and operating margin through historically challenging market and industry conditions in 2022 and 2023. As we’ve seen before, when investors were ready to put money back to work, they did it with BlackRock. Clients entrusted us with $289 billion of net inflows in 2023, including $96 billion in the fourth quarter. We enter 2024 with strong momentum – $10 trillion in AUM, accelerating flows, and an organization positioned for the future.
Today, we are announcing two transformational changes in anticipation of the evolution we see ahead for asset management and the capital markets. The strategic re-architecture of our organization will simplify and improve how we work and deliver for clients. And our acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) will propel our leadership in the fast-growing market for hard-asset infrastructure.
Our clients’ needs have been our compass. Listening to them and applying that to our vision for the future of our industry drove our innovation in Aladdin, and how we led a revolution that made iShares ETFs ubiquitous.
We always viewed ETFs as a technology, a technology that facilitated investing. And just as our Aladdin technology has become core to asset management, so too have ETFs. That’s why we believe embedding our ETF and Index business across the entire firm will accelerate the growth of iShares and every investment strategy at BlackRock.
The combination of BlackRock infrastructure with GIP will make us the second largest private markets infrastructure manager with over $150 billion in total AUM, providing clients – especially those saving for retirement – with the high-coupon, inflation-protected, long-duration investments they need.
We are incredibly excited about this next chapter in BlackRock’s history. This ambitious transformation of our firm positions us better than ever. Our clients, shareholders, and employees will be its biggest beneficiaries.
