BlackRock is letting go of about 3% of its global workforce in an effort to reallocate resources during a period of change more rapid “than at any time since [the firm’s] founding.”
The layoffs affect about 600 employees and were announced Tuesday in a memo to staff, which was published in full by Business Insider.
Affected employees were notified before the mass memo went out.
The departures include “valued friends and colleagues who have made important contributions to the firm” and focus on no single team or region, and are mentioned halfway down in a memo otherwise lauding BlackRock’s strengths and momentum.
“Clients have entrusted BlackRock to manage more assets than any other manager in the world, and it is clear clients want to do even more with us,” CEO Larry Fink and President Rob Kapito wrote. “Adapting to seize opportunities is what has made BlackRock an industry leader. We enter 2024 with significant momentum.
“As a growth company, it is vital that we continually challenge ourselves and ask how we can best prepare for those opportunities,” they added. “We must have the best talent in the industry. We need to be agile and efficient in how we serve our clients and how we manage our resources. We must leverage technology, and we must redeploy people and resources where the client needs are greatest and the opportunities for growth the most promising.”
Despite the layoffs, the firm expects to have “a larger workforce as we continue adding people and building capabilities to support key areas of growth” by year’s end.
“[Exchange-traded funds] are becoming ubiquitous as the preferred vehicle for delivering both index and active investment strategies. Growth is coming from a wider range of markets around the world than ever before — across Europe, the Middle East, India and other markets in Asia. And, perhaps most profound, new technologies are poised to transform our industry — and every other industry,” the memo said.
BlackRock laid off 2.5% of its workforce, or 500 employees, this time last year, then marking its first round of layoffs since 2019. The firm made further cuts — less than 1% of staffers — in June, according to Reuters.
