BlackRock is understood to be cutting 250 jobs across its business, following two similar rounds last year, as assets under management pass US$14 trillion.
According to Bloomberg, the exits include staff in its investment and sales team and total around 1 per cent of its global headcount. This would be its third round of 1 per cent job cuts in the past 12 months.
The decision is understood to be driven by a desire to align resources most efficiently.
The firm has over 21,000 staff across 38 offices worldwide including Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
A spokesperson for BlackRock was unable to confirm if the job cuts would affect its Australian offices where the fund manager employs around 170 people.
In its quarterly results last week, the global fund manager hit US$14 trillion in assets under management (AUM) on the back of its strong push into private markets, leading to a record year for the US asset manager.
In the three months to 31 December, the US asset manager said total net inflows during the quarter were US$342 billion, up from US$205 billion in the previous quarter. Total net inflows for the full year 2025 reached US$698 billion.
On private markets, where the firm has been particularly active with acquisitions for some time, AUM rose from US$211.9 billion a year ago to US$322.6 billion, including US$12.7 billion in inflows for 4Q.
Over the past few years, the firm has completed the acquisitions of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), HPS Investment Partners and private markets data provider Preqin, spending around US$28 billion on the trio as it builds out its private markets investing and data capabilities.
The project is central to the firm’s ambition to double its market capitalisation by 2030.
“2026 will be our first full year as a unified platform with GIP, HPS and Preqin. Around the world, clients are looking to do more across BlackRock,” chief executive Larry Fink said.
“Our pipeline of business has broadened across products and regions, spanning public and private markets mandates, technology and data, and client channels. We’re seeing excellent fundraising activity as we work toward our goal of $400 billion in private markets fundraising by 2030.”
