While he may not be a celebrity with throngs of followers across the globe, Larry Fink surely falls within a select group of individuals who have made quite an impact in the financial world.
The relevance of the CEO of the world's largest asset manager, BlackRock, in the finance community is such that the company recently increased his security expenses. According to securities filings, the expenses included $216k to hire security guards and $563k to update Fink's security system at home.
The powerhouse investment management firm was founded in 1988 and worked its way to cementing its position in the exciting high stakes world of finance.
Being one of the most-respected investment bankers, his most recent bold call is to go all in on equities. He advocates for investors to put about 80% of their discretionary assets into hard assets or equity investments. In fact, he does not stop there as he would even encourage the investment of 100% of assets, for those who have the risk appetite for it.
The root of success
Larry Fink's net worth mainly comes from BlackRock. It was under Blackstone Group back then, however in 1994, it split and emerged into a separate entity. Thereafter, in 1999, the company went public, which garnered more capitalization for the growth of the company. In BlackRock alone, Fink has held different positions, Chairman of the Board, Chair of Corporate Council, Chairman of the Executive and Leadership Committees, and in all these, he was able to steer the company to great success.
Initial stumbles
Fink was not exactly born with the golden spoon. Suffice to say that he worked his way to the top, with some considerable failures along the way. He was born in 1952 in Van Nuys, California. His father owned a shoe store while his mother was an English professor. Although one could say that he was nowhere near poverty line, the status of his parents back then were also a far cry from being millionaires.
After high school, he earned his bachelor's degree in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles. Aside from this, he also proceeded to graduate school and earned himself an MBA degree in real estate, particularly at the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management.
Starting from the bottom
Armed with a strong degree, he started his career in investment in 1976 at one of New York's investment banks -- First Boston. While being new to the field, he was already made responsible for some of the firm's important departments. He became the manager of the bond department of the firm. He also became one of the firm's mortgage-backed security traders. During his stint, he was able to increaese the bottom line of the company by around $1 billion. However, in 1986, due to some miscalculated predictions on interest rate, he lost the company a whopping $100 million.
Larry Fink net worth
After the 1986 blunder, Fink was able to get himself back up when he co-founded BlackRock. At the outset, BlackRock was under the Blackstone Group, but later split from it in 1994. It was perhaps the most sound decision that he made as he was able to take the company public in 1999. From that point on, there was no stopping Fink.
Under his leadership, BlackRock was able to cement its name as one of the biggest asset management firms, not only in the United States, but even globally. In 2006, the company merged with Merrill Lynch and that further doubled the company's asset management portfolio. In the same year, it also purchased a Manhattan housing complex but that deal did not go well for the company causing clients to lose millions.
Despite this, Fink did not waver in his quest to bring BlackRock to the pinnacle of success. In 2009, the company purchased Barclays Global Investors, propelling BlackRock as one of the largest money management firms in the world.
This likewise made Fink a very rich man. Following the deal, Fink's wealth accumulated unil he achieved billionaire status in 2018. At present, the CEO of BlackRock has a whopping $1.2 billion net worth. The self-made billionaire can also proudly claim that the company that he worked so hard for, now has $8.7 trillion in assets under management.
Fink reached the billionaire status in April 2018. According to reports, about $600 million of Larry Fink's net worth comes from his equity in his asset management company, of which he owns 0.7% shares. Fink's annual salary could range from $20 million to $40 million.
No stopping
Having breached the billion-dollar mark, Fink will most likely take more steps that will further increase his wealth. With the way BlackRock is performing in the world of finance, Fink may likely stay as one of the world's few billionaires.
