BLACKROCK told employees it’s cutting roughly 1 per cent of its workforce after it committed more than US$25 billion for acquisitions last year to expand its reach in private-market assets and data.
The cuts are part of BlackRock’s efforts to realign its resources with the firm’s strategy, BlackRock president Rob Kapito and chief operating officer Rob Goldstein told staff in a memo on Wednesday (Jan 8).
The company has more than 21,000 employees, meaning the cuts apply to about 200 staff.
“As part of these firmwide efforts, we will be making changes today that will see approximately 1 per cent of our colleagues leave the firm,” they said in the memo. “This is never easy.”
The firm added 3,750 employees last year and expects to have 2,000 more in 2025 following the deals for Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), private credit shop HPS Investment Partners and data firm Preqin, according to the memo.
The US$12.5 billion acquisition of GIP was completed on Oct 1, while the roughly US$12 billion deal for HPS is expected to close mid-year. The US$3.2 billion Preqin transaction was expected to close before year-end 2024, but it’s still pending.
“We believe these investments make us a stronger and more dynamic organisation that is even better positioned to serve clients over the long term,” the BlackRock executives wrote. “These investments will enable us to accelerate our momentum in 2025.” BLOOMBERG
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