BlackRock, Inc. (BLK)

Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This report, and other statements that BlackRock may make, may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, with respect to BlackRock’s future financial or business performance, strategies or expectations. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words or phrases such as “trend,” “potential,” “opportunity,” “pipeline,” “believe,” “comfortable,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “current,” “intention,” “estimate,” “position,” “assume,” “outlook,” “continue,” “remain,” “maintain,” “sustain,” “seek,” “achieve,” and similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “may” and similar expressions.

BlackRock cautions that forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time and may contain information that is not purely historical in nature. Such information may include, among other things, projections and forecasts. There is no guarantee that any forecasts made will come to pass. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and BlackRock assumes no duty to and does not undertake to update forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements and future results could differ materially from historical performance.

BlackRock has previously disclosed risk factors in its Securities and Exchange Commission reports. These risk factors and those identified elsewhere in this report, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements or historical performance and include: (1) the introduction, withdrawal, success and timing of business initiatives and strategies; (2) changes and volatility in political, economic or industry conditions, the interest rate environment, foreign exchange rates or financial and capital markets, which could result in changes in demand for products or services or in the value of assets under management (“AUM”); (3) the relative and absolute investment performance of BlackRock’s investment products; (4) BlackRock’s ability to develop new products and services that address client preferences; (5) the impact of increased competition; (6) the impact of recent or future acquisitions or divestitures, including the acquisitions of Global Infrastructure Management, LLC (“GIP” or the “GIP Transaction”), Preqin Holding Limited (“Preqin” or the “Preqin Transaction”) and HPS Investment Partners (“HPS” or the “HPS Transaction” and together with the GIP Transaction and the Preqin Transaction, the “Transactions”); (7) BlackRock’s ability to integrate acquired businesses successfully, including the Transactions; (8) the unfavorable resolution of legal proceedings; (9) the extent and timing of any share repurchases; (10) the impact, extent and timing of technological changes and the adequacy of intellectual property, data, information and cybersecurity protection; (11) the failure to effectively manage the development and use of artificial intelligence; (12) attempts to circumvent BlackRock’s operational control environment or the potential for human error in connection with BlackRock’s operational systems; (13) the impact of legislative and regulatory actions and reforms, supervisory or enforcement actions of government agencies and governmental scrutiny relating to BlackRock; (14) changes in law and policy and uncertainty pending any such changes; (15) any failure to effectively manage conflicts of interest; (16) damage to BlackRock’s reputation; (17) increasing focus from stakeholders regarding environmental- and social-related matters; (18) geopolitical unrest, terrorist activities, civil or international hostilities, and other events outside BlackRock’s control, including wars, global trade tensions, tariffs, natural disasters and health crises, which may adversely affect the general economy, domestic and local financial and capital markets, specific industries or BlackRock; (19) climate-related risks to BlackRock’s business, products, operations and clients; (20) the ability to attract, train and retain highly qualified professionals; (21) fluctuations in the carrying value of BlackRock’s economic investments; (22) the impact of changes to tax legislation, including income, payroll and transaction taxes, and taxation on products, which could affect the value proposition to clients and, generally, the tax position of BlackRock; (23) BlackRock’s success in negotiating distribution arrangements and maintaining distribution channels for its products; (24) the failure by key third-party providers to fulfill their obligations to BlackRock; (25) operational, technological and regulatory risks associated with BlackRock’s major technology partnerships; (26) any disruption to the operations of third parties whose functions are integral to BlackRock’s exchange-traded products (“ETPs”) platform; (27) the impact of BlackRock electing to provide support to its products from time to time and any potential liabilities related to securities lending or other indemnification obligations; and (28) the impact of problems, instability or failure of other financial institutions or the failure or negative performance of products offered by other financial institutions.

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OVERVIEW

BlackRock, Inc. (together, with its subsidiaries, unless the context otherwise indicates, “BlackRock” or the “Company”) is a leading publicly traded investment management firm with $15.3 trillion of AUM at June 30, 2026. With approximately 26,200 employees in more than 30 countries, BlackRock provides a broad range of investment management and technology and subscription services to institutional and retail clients in more than 100 countries across the globe.

BlackRock’s diverse platform of alpha-seeking active, private markets, index and cash management investment strategies across asset classes enables the Company to offer choice and tailor investment and asset allocation solutions for clients. Product offerings include single- and multi-asset portfolios investing in equities, fixed income, private markets, liquid alternatives, digital assets, currencies and commodities, and money market instruments. Products are offered directly and through intermediaries in a variety of vehicles, including open-end and closed-end mutual funds, iShares® ETFs, separate accounts, collective trust funds and other pooled investment vehicles. BlackRock also offers technology and subscription services, including the investment and risk management technology platform, Aladdin®, Aladdin WealthTM, eFront®, Preqin and Cachematrix®, as well as advisory services and solutions to a broad base of institutional and wealth management clients. The Company is highly regulated and manages its clients’ assets as a fiduciary. The Company does not engage in proprietary trading activities that could conflict with the interests of its clients.

BlackRock serves a diverse mix of institutional and retail clients across the globe. Clients include tax-exempt institutions, such as defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans, charities, foundations and endowments; official institutions, such as central banks, sovereign wealth funds, supranationals and other government entities; taxable institutions, including insurance companies, financial institutions, corporations and third-party fund sponsors, and retail intermediaries.

BlackRock maintains a significant global sales and marketing presence that is focused on establishing and maintaining retail and institutional investment management and technology service relationships by marketing its services to investors directly and through third-party distribution relationships, including financial professionals and pension consultants.

Certain prior period presentations were reclassified to ensure comparability with current period classifications.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

(1)
Accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”).

(2)
As adjusted items are described in more detail in Non-GAAP Financial Measures.

(3)
Net income attributable to BlackRock, Inc., as adjusted, and diluted earnings per common share, as adjusted, assume all Subco Units have been exchanged in accordance with their terms on a one-for-one basis into common stock of BlackRock. Accordingly, the noncontrolling interest allocated to these Subco Units has been included as part of net income attributable to BlackRock, Inc., as adjusted. See Non-GAAP Financial Measures for further information.

(4)
As of June 30, 2026, there were 155.0 million shares of common stock and 7.6 million Subco Units outstanding.

(5)
Total BlackRock stockholders’ equity divided by total shares of common stock outstanding at June 30 of the respective period-end.

Three Months Ended June 30, 2026 Compared with Three Months Ended June 30, 2025

GAAP. Operating income of $2.5 billion increased $730 million and operating margin of 34.7% increased 280 bps from the three months ended June 30, 2025. Increases in operating income and operating margin were driven by higher revenue, reflecting the positive impact of markets, organic base fee growth, fees related to the HPS Transaction, higher performance fees, and higher technology services and subscription reve

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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Forward-looking Statements

This report, and other statements that BlackRock may make, may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, with respect to BlackRock’s future financial or business performance, strategies or expectations. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words or phrases such as “trend,” “potential,” “opportunity,” “pipeline,” “believe,” “comfortable,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “current,” “intention,” “estimate,” “position,” “assume,” “outlook,” “continue,” “remain,” “maintain,” “sustain,” “seek,” “achieve,” and similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “may” and similar expressions.

BlackRock cautions that forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time and may contain information that is not purely historical in nature. Such information may include, among other things, projections and forecasts. There is no guarantee that any forecasts made will come to pass. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and BlackRock assumes no duty to and does not undertake to update forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements and future results could differ materially from historical performance.

BlackRock has previously disclosed risk factors in its Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) reports. These risk factors and those identified elsewhere in this report, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements or historical performance and include: (1) the introduction, withdrawal, success and timing of business initiatives and strategies; (2) changes and volatility in political, economic or industry conditions, the interest rate environment, foreign exchange rates or financial and capital markets, which could result in changes in demand for products or services or in the value of assets under management (“AUM”); (3) the relative and absolute investment performance of BlackRock’s investment products; (4) BlackRock’s ability to develop new products and services that address client preferences; (5) the impact of increased competition; (6) the impact of recent or future acquisitions or divestitures, including the acquisitions of Global Infrastructure Management, LLC (“GIP” or the “GIP Transaction”), Preqin Holding Limited (“Preqin” or the “Preqin Transaction”) and HPS Investment Partners (“HPS” or the “HPS Transaction” and together with the GIP Transaction and the Preqin Transaction, the “Transactions”); (7) BlackRock’s ability to integrate acquired businesses successfully, including the Transactions; (8) the unfavorable resolution of legal proceedings; (9) the extent and timing of any share repurchases; (10) the impact, extent and timing of technological changes and the adequacy of intellectual property, data, information and cybersecurity protection; (11) the failure to effectively manage the development and use of artificial intelligence; (12) attempts to circumvent BlackRock’s operational control environment or the potential for human error in connection with BlackRock’s operational systems; (13) the impact of legislative and regulatory actions and reforms, supervisory or enforcement actions of government agencies and governmental scrutiny relating to BlackRock; (14) changes in law and policy and uncertainty pending any such changes; (15) any failure to effectively manage conflicts of interest; (16) damage to BlackRock’s reputation; (17) increasing focus from stakeholders regarding environmental and social-related matters; (18) geopolitical unrest, terrorist activities, civil or international hostilities, and other events outside BlackRock’s control, including wars, global trade tensions, tariffs, natural disasters and health crises, which may adversely affect the general economy, domestic and local financial and capital markets, specific industries or BlackRock; (19) climate-related risks to BlackRock’s business, products, operations and clients; (20) the ability to attract, train and retain highly qualified professionals; (21) fluctuations in the carrying value of BlackRock’s economic investments; (22) the impact of changes to tax legislation, including income, payroll and transaction taxes, and taxation on products, which could affect the value proposition to clients and, generally, the tax position of BlackRock; (23) BlackRock’s success in negotiating distribution arrangements and maintaining distribution channels for its products; (24) the failure by key third-party providers to fulfill their obligations to BlackRock; (25) operational, technological and regulatory risks associated with BlackRock’s major technology partnerships; (26) any disruption to the operations of third parties whose functions are integral to BlackRock’s exchange-traded products (“ETPs”) platform; (27) the impact of BlackRock electing to provide support to its products from time to time and any potential liabilities related to securities lending or other indemnification obligations; and (28) the impact of problems, instability or failure of other financial institutions or the failure or negative performance of products offered by other financial institutions.

Overview

BlackRock, Inc. (together, with its subsidiaries, unless the context otherwise indicates, “BlackRock” or the “Company”) is a leading publicly traded investment management firm with $14.0 trillion of AUM at December 31, 2025. With approximately 24,900 employees in more than 30 countries, BlackRock provides a broad range of investment management and technology services to institutional and retail clients in more than 100 countries across the globe. For further information see Note 1, Business Overview, and Note 27, Segment Information, in the notes to the consolidated financial statements contained in Part II, Item 8.

The following discussion includes a comparison of BlackRock’s results for 2025 and 2024. For a discussion of BlackRock’s results for 2023 and a comparison of results for 2024 and 2023, see Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, which was filed with the SEC on February 25, 2025.

Certain prior period presentations were reclassified to ensure comparability with current period classifications.

Acquisitions

On March 3, 2025, BlackRock completed the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Preqin, a leading provider of private markets data, for £2.5 billion (or approximately $3.2 billion) in cash. The Company believes bringing together Preqin's data and research tools with the complementary workflows of Aladdin and eFront in a unified platform will create a preeminent private markets technology and data provider.

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On July 1, 2025, BlackRock completed the acquisition of 100% of the business and assets of HPS, a leading global credit investment manager, with substantially all consideration paid in Class B-2 common units ("Subco Units") of BlackRock Saturn Subco, LLC ("Subco"), a consolidated subsidiary of the Company. The HPS Transaction, which added $165 billion of client AUM and $118 billion of fee-paying AUM, positions the Company to provide an integrated private credit platform with both public and private income solutions for clients across their whole portfolios. At close, approximately 8.5 million Subco Units were delivered to former equityholders of HPS and valued at $8.5 billion, based on the price of BlackRock's common stock on June 30, 2025 of approximately $1,049 and discounted for a one-year lack of marketability before exchange rights begin. Such Subco Units are exchangeable on a one-for-one basis into BlackRock common stock (accordingly, the value of each unit delivered was based on the price of a share of BlackRock’s common stock and the specific terms of the Subco Units). In addition, at the time of close, the Company granted incentive retention awards to certain employees of approximately 680,000 RSUs that vest in increasing yearly increments over five years valued at $675 million and approximately 270,000 RSUs valued at $260 million that cliff vest 100% after six months. Furthermore, deferred consideration, which is to be delivered all in Subco Units of approximately 2.8 million to 4.4 million, and initially valued at $3.4 billion at close, may be paid in approximately five years, subject to achievement of certain post-closing conditions and financial performance milestones. In general, if (i) the maximum amount of contingent consideration is achieved, (ii) all Subco Units are exchanged for shares of the Company’s common stock (including those issued on the closing date), and (iii) all RSUs vest and are settled in the form of shares of the Company’s common stock, the Company does not expect to issue more than approximately 13.8 million shares of common stock in the aggregate.

On September 2, 2025, BlackRock completed the acquisition of 100% of the equity interests in ElmTree Funds (the "ElmTree Transaction" or “ElmTree”), a net-lease real estate investment firm, with consideration paid primarily in BlackRock common stock. The acquisition of ElmTree positions the Company to scale its real estate-related offerings, while expanding into new markets as an owner-operator.

For additional information see Note 1, Business Overview, Note 2, Significant Accounting Policies and Note 3, Acquisitions in the notes to the consolidated financial statements contained in Part II, Item 8.

Other Developments

On December 10, 2025, BlackRock contributed a portion of its stake in Circle Internet Group, Inc. ("Circle") to the BlackRock Charitable Fund, which BlackRock established in 2013 (the “Charitable Contribution”). The Charitable Contribution resulted in an operating expense of $109 million, which was offset by a tax benefit of $29 million. The Charitable Contribution will add to the long-term funding for BlackRock’s philanthropic grants and programs. The general and administration expense and associated tax benefit related to the Charitable Contribution have been excluded from as adjusted results.

Business Outlook

BlackRock’s strategy continues to be guided by the Company's clients' needs and focus on the long-term, which the Company believes better enables it to deliver durable returns for shareholders and create value for all of its stakeholders. BlackRock’s highly diversified multi-product platform was created to meet client needs in all market environments and provide clients with choice in how they seek to achieve their unique financial goals. BlackRock is positioned to provide alpha-seeking active, private markets, index, and cash management investment strategies across asset classes and geographies. In addition, BlackRock leverages its world-class risk management, analytics, and technology capabilities, including the Aladdin platform, on behalf of clients. BlackRock serves a diverse mix of institutional and retail clients across the globe, as well as investors in ETFs, maintaining differentiated client relationships and a fiduciary focus. The diversity of BlackRock’s platform facilitates the generation of organic growth in various market environments, and as client preferences evolve. BlackRock’s long-term strategy remains to keep alpha at the heart of BlackRock; drive growth in ETFs, private markets, and technology; be the global leader in sustainable investing; and lead as a whole portfolio advisor.

BlackRock's framework for long-term shareholder value creation is predicated on generating differentiated organic growth, leveraging scale to increase operating margins over time, and returning capital to shareholders on a consistent basis.

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