No asset manager had ever crossed the $15 trillion (€13tn) threshold before BlackRock confirmed the milestone in results published on Wednesday.
The rise was driven by market gains and new client money.
Clients handed the New York-based giant a net $192 billion (€167bn) in the second quarter of 2026, capping a record first half in which inflows reached $321 billion (€280bn), more than double the same period a year earlier.
To illustrate the sheer scale of BlackRock’s assets under management, the firm manages more money than the projected nominal annual economic output of every country except the US and China, and nearly three times that of Germany.
However, assets under management represent a stock of investments, while GDP measures economic output over a year.
The surge in assets came during a quarter that was lucrative too.
According to BlackRock’s second-quarter earnings release, revenue climbed 31% year on year to $7.1 billion (€6.2bn), while adjusted earnings per share reached $13.91, comfortably beating expectations.
BlackRock shares jumped about 7% on the day of the release.
“Market fundamentals are strong and well supported, with higher margins and earnings momentum catalysed by new technology,” CEO Larry Fink said in a statement.
“Our momentum is accelerating, and I’ve never been more optimistic about the growth ahead,” Fink added.
The first thing to understand is that this is not BlackRock’s money.
It is the pooled savings of pension funds, insurers, governments and ordinary investors, which the firm manages for a fee. Most of the money is invested in shares.
Equities account for $8.9 trillion (€7.7tn), or 58% of the total.
Bonds and other fixed-income investments make up a further $3.4 trillion (€2.9tn), or 22%. Multi-asset strategies that combine different investments hold $1.3 trillion (€1.1tn), or 9%, while cash-management products, such as Treasury bills, account for another $1.1 trillion (€960bn), or 7%of the total.
The headline-grabbing alternative investments, including infrastructure, private credit, private equity and property remain a sliver at $449 billion, roughly 3% of assets, but they generate about 15% of BlackRock’s base fees.
Commodity and currency products hold $152 billion (€132bn), while crypto-linked funds, launched in 2024, manage about $49 billion (€42bn).
The way the money is invested matters as much as the asset mix.
Some 41% of the total sits in exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Fink noted that the iShares ETF range crossed $6 trillion during the quarter, roughly double its size three years ago.
BlackRock’s scale has increasingly brought it into deals with geopolitical implications. The dispute over ports at either end of the Panama Canal is one of the clearest recent examples.
After US President Donald Trump claimed China was effectively running the waterway, Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison agreed in March 2025 to sell 43 ports, including terminals at either end of the canal, to a consortium led by BlackRock. The proposed deal was valued at $22.8 billion (€19.9bn) and welcomed by Washington as a step towards restoring US influence over the ports.
Beijing objected and pressed for state-owned Cosco to be included. The sale has yet to be completed.
Panama meanwhile annulled Hutchison’s canal concessions in February, handing interim operations to Maersk and MSC, whose terminals arm counts BlackRock’s infrastructure unit GIP among its shareholders, while talks on the wider portfolio continue.
Meanwhile, Panama’s Supreme Court annulled Hutchison’s concessions to operate container terminals at either end of the Panama Canal in January. The government transferred interim control of the ports to Maersk and MSC in February, while talks over the wider portfolio continued. BlackRock’s infrastructure business, Global Infrastructure Partners, is a shareholder in MSC’s ports division.
Larry Fink’s proximity to the White House was on display again in May, when he travelled to Beijing as part of the corporate delegation accompanying Trump during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Fink joined chief executives including Tesla’s Elon Musk and Apple’s Tim Cook on a visit dominated by trade and technology.
The firm’s reach extends into American retirement policy as well.
An executive order signed by Trump last year directed regulators to broaden access to private-market assets through the country’s 401(k) pension plans. BlackRock had championed the shift and stands to benefit as it develops private-market products for retirement savers, which typically carry higher fees than index funds.
A display shows notes and wishes for Korean unification at an event marking the third annual North Korean Defectors’ Day in Goyang on Tuesday. Photo by Yonhap
President Lee Jae Myung said Tuesday the experience of understanding North Korean-born citizens in South Korea will become a “special asset” to prepare for a future shared by the two Koreas.
Lee made the remarks in a written address delivered by Lim Woong-soon, the second deputy director of the National Security Office, in commemoration of the day for North Korean defectors, which falls on July 14.
“The experience of understanding and trusting one another in a new community will lay the foundation for social integration and serve as a valuable asset in preparing for a future in which South and North Korea live together,” Lee said.
“We will establish lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula and move steadily toward shared prosperity for the two Koreas,” the president said, adding that he will make all-out efforts to usher in a future of “coexistence and cooperation” beyond conflict and confrontation.
During the speech, Lee consistently referred to North Korean defectors as “bukhyangmin,” or people whose hometown is North Korea, a new term adopted by the unification minister earlier this year. The ministry is using “North Korean-born citizens” to refer to the North’s defectors.
Meanwhile, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young underscored at the event that it marked the first year to commemorate the third anniversary under the newly adopted reference, noting the term “North Korean defectors” implies discrimination and exclusion.
Tuesday’s event in Goyang, northwest of Seoul, was attended by some 1,000 people, including North Korean-born citizens and those who helped them settle into South Korea.
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The White House said the Trump administration is continuing to work on the best structure for a “U.S. strategic Bitcoin reserve” and “digital asset stockpile” to deliver on President Trump’s vision.
According to a Bloomberg report, the Bitcoin (
It’s always spectacular to see a big shot getting caught. Especially when he’s made a long career at the top of an European democracy under a mask of respectability. And, oh so suddenly, it turns out he’s made a fortune dealing with a Latin American dictatorship.
The sequence was— as people love to say today—worth of a Netflix series.
Hours before getting on another flight to Caracas, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero decided to stay in Madrid once he knew he had just become the first former prime minister in the history of Spain’s 50-year-old democracy to be indicted for a crime. For those who turn on the phone in the morning across the Atlantic, when it is noon in Spain, the news of the indictment came as one bundle with the footage of Zapatero’s office being raided by an anti-corruption investigative unit of Spain’s National Police Corps, known as UDEF.
Zapatero was indicted by Audiencia National (an equivalent of the Supreme Court) for selling his influence to get a financial relief kit for an airline, Plus Ultra, the smallest of four Spanish carriers that received assistance from Madrid as a result of the demand-side shock during the pandemic. This company, with a fleet of seven aircrafts, was also the youngest of the lot, and had the particular feature of having inaugurated routes to Caracas in the annus horribilis of 2017, a time when international operators were withdrawing from the country en masse. As Armando.Info investigative reporter Roberto Deniz would reveal in December 2018, Plus Ultra’s majority stakeholders were from Venezuela.
Eight years later, Zapatero is being prosecuted over allegations of political influence peddling related to the €53 million bailout of Plus Ultra. He also faces charges of criminal conspiracy, document forgery and money laundering. The judge handling the case describes Zapatero as the head of “a stable and hierarchical influence‑peddling structure” meant to “obtain financial benefits as an intermediary, exerting influence over public bodies on behalf of third parties, mainly Plus Ultra.” At least six other individuals are under investigation, including Plus Ultra’s chairman, its CEO, and Alicante-based businessman Julio Martínez Martínez.
The UDEF report says Zapatero and Martínez were at the center of a structure of businesses and consulting firms meant to syphon money coming from China, Venezuela and Spain into his personal accounts.
This latter will be a key character in this story: Martínez Martínez is not only being accused of acting as Zapatero’s frontman in a number of entities that received payments linked to the Plus Ultra (et al) scheme. His own personal records, such as notebook annotations UDEF just made public, suggest he was fully aware of Zapatero’s business and political dealings with the Maduro regime. That evidence seems to point at both opaque trade deals (over Venezuelan light crude, gold, fuel, asphalt, which were the subject of US sanctions until recently) Martínez and Zapatero may have promoted, and knowledge about a number of high-profile political prisoners released this year. The son-in-law of Edmundo González, security expert Rocío San Miguel and opposition moderate Enrique Márquez (who has publicly praised Zapatero) appear mentioned. Martínez´s notes also provide previously undisclosed details about the contents of a constitutional reform Maduro toyed with, but never brought about after stealing the presidential vote in 2024.
All of this adds to the investigations about shady business in the pandemic that involved Spanish businessman Víctor de Aldama, former Transport Minister and PSOE Organization Secretary José Luis Ábalos, and his close advisor Koldo García. The trio famously met Delcy Rodríguez in the tarmac of the Madrid international airport, for a purported conversation over the sale of Venezuelan gold lingots, despite her being the subject of EU sanctions and therefore unable to step on European soil. These three Spaniards (with Ábalos and Koldo being amongst the closest collaborators of Pedro Sánchez in his primary campaign and early government) are the main actors in a series of corruption scandals that have been getting closer to the Spanish head of government, a darling of the International Left whose reputation has been boosted by a knack for antagonizing Donald Trump. But the former aides of Perro Sanxe have been arrested without bail and indicted (and will soon face a sentencing hearing). His brother is facing trial. His wife has also been indicted and is on the verge of facing trial. And now it looks like his political mentor will also face a lengthy process before Spanish justice.
Just after the Zapatero news broke in Spain, predictable reactions began to come across the political spectrum: bloodthirst at the Right, accusations of conspiracy at the Left. Then, the judge made public the 88-page file, fed with a probe that began in 2024, and the ambiance turned in a second. Many allies of the graft-plagued socialist government admitted that the accusations are solid, the evidence overwhelming, and the outlook quite bleak for Zapatero. The conspiracy theory that this was lawfare against the Sánchez government faded away. Spain’s paper of record, El País, traditionally aligned with Zapatero’s party PSOE, wrote a stern op-ed saying that the Sánchez government was forced to investigate this properly to prevent the “enemies of democracy” in the Far Right from charging against the democratic system. “Full cooperation with the judiciary, full respect for the presumption of innocence, and all my support for President Zapatero,” Sánchez said today.
As you may have noticed, authorities have released more evidence this week. Spanish media ranging from the State-owned, left-leaning broadcaster RTVE to the investigative El Confidencial are carving out a map of the Zapatero network of sociedades mercantiles. While not all of these companies are under investigation, together they received an estimated €2.6 million between 2020 and 2025 from Chinese capital and entities under investigation.
The investigation will likely reveal more details about the dealings between the chavista regime, Zapatero and other politicians and businesspeople close to the Sanchista government.
The UDEF report says Zapatero and Martínez were at the center of a structure of businesses and consulting firms (under not-at-all pretentious names like Inteligencia Prospectiva and Análisis Relevante) meant to syphon money coming from China, Venezuela and Spain into his personal accounts. Money that looks, in many cases, like kickbacks. For instance, Whathefav, a social media agency owned by his two daughters, got a payment of half a million euros for creating a website and a promotional video for Inteligencia Prospectiva SL, which is owned by Guillemo and Domingo Amaro Chacón. These two are Spanish-Venezuelan citizens who happen to be the sons of a businessman involved in a case of insurance fraud with PDVSA. Inteligencia Prospectiva reported losses, but was paying juicy bills to other businesses of the same network, like Whathefav.
UDEF also cites evidence of conversations between Domingo Amaro Chacón and Julio Martínez Martínez, from 2021 to 2024, discussing a deal with Minerven (coded as “comercialización de amarillo”), nickel reserves in Venezuela, a major tourism development project on La Tortuga Island, and what seems like efforts to promote the opening of the UAE embassy in Caracas (coded as “the desert guys”). All of this may have something to do with UDEF’s suggestion (reviewed here by The Objective) alleging that the Plus Ultra case might be linked to a money-laundering operation involving proceeds from the Venezuelan CLAP food-box scheme, as well as the shipment of 5-8 tons of gold from Caracas to Dubai.
Yes, it’s a lot. And we’re not even getting into other grim details, like reports that Whathefav received a €100,000 payment from the company behind VenApp, which you’ll remember as the mobile app Maduro promoted in the past two years to encourage chavistas to snitch on dissidents.
Until that day, Zapatero was able to sell to the Spanish people that he had been in Venezuela not just as a negotiator helping take people out of jail, but as a peacemaker trying to prevent the country from falling into a civil war. Apparently through his good heart and blue eyes.
Suddenly, Spain has discovered that a former president, adored among socialists for his term’s achievements like the disbandment of terrorist group ETA, who left Moncloa Palace with no scandals on his shoulders, and who kept enough prestige to back the rise of Sánchez, is an international operator that used his connections and knowledge to make at least 2.6 million euros in ways that spill way beyond the disputable boundaries of legal lobbying.
Once again, Venezuelans raised their eyes to the sky and whispered with resignation. That “yes, moron, we have known this for years” feeling we are so familiar with.
This case should remind the EU that post-Maduro Venezuela still harbors kleptocratic networks embedded well within European jurisdictions.
For Venezuelan media, and we dare to say a great deal of the public, Zapatero has been known for years as a loyal operator of the chavista regime who works at the expense of the people to help Maduro, and now the Rodríguez siblings, to preserve power. In doing so, he has kept the boardgame tilted against the opposition. The statesmanship that many Spaniards attribute to Zapatero has served only to defend Maduro’s interests during several negotiation rounds with international presence, and to corner the opposition into disadvantageous arrangements by presenting himself as an arbiter when, in fact, he’s no more than an able messenger of Miraflores. Former political prisoners like Lorent Saleh have recalled how Zapatero pressured their families to keep quiet about torture and abuse endured in prison. All that work, of course, has been handsomely rewarded.
We saw his shadow in the humiliation of president-elect Edmundo González Urrutia, in the Spanish ambassador’s house in Caracas, during his last hours in Venezuela in August 2024. Edmundo was pressured by Delcy and Jorge Rodríguez to sign a self-incriminating letter as a condition for being allowed to leave for Spain. After that, the Rodríguez siblings and Zapatero have actively endorsed each other: one of the Spaniard’s last visits to Caracas saw him declaring next to Jorge and other National Assembly lawmakers as a key international sponsor of the 2026 amnesty law, which Delcy recently discontinued. One of those lawmakers, fake opposition politician Timoteo Zambrano, is another close friend and ally of Zapatero. The latter’s influence looks so significant that Delcy just appointed Zambrano as the Venezuelan ambassador in Madrid.
The investigation will likely reveal more details about the dealings between the chavista regime, Zapatero and other politicians and businesspeople close to the Sanchista government. It will all depend on what prosecutors can find and prove, but it’s fair to say that a wave of scandals and a thickening of corruption dossiers of this kind could make any democratic government in the world collapse (though with Sánchez, in the end, we’re talking about a man Spanish voters know for surviving all kinds of reputational crises).
The Spanish government was among the first to recognize Delcy Rodríguez as head of state. As early as January, its top diplomat said he would request that the EU lifts sanctions on Delcy. Just a few weeks ago, the same official confirmed that Caracas would resume talks with the IMF. The Spanish Foreign Ministry used to be run by Josep Borrell, a socialist from the non-Zapaterista faction (the more moderate, Felipista wing) of the ruling PSOE, who has become a vocal critic of both the Maduro dictatorship and Zapatero. But Madrid’s latest efforts to normalize relations with Delcy haven’t gone unnoticed, perhaps encouraged by the Trump administration, and also by Maria Corina Machado’s close ties with the Spanish Right.
With such accusations against a key enabler of this bilateral relationship, the image of normalcy (and common sense) both Sánchez and Delcy are trying to project should take a hit. This case should remind the EU that post-Maduro Venezuela still harbors kleptocratic networks embedded well within European jurisdictions.
We should note this is not a problem where Delcy can turn to the Trump administration for help. Not only because Trump despises Sánchez, but because Homeland Security reportedly gave leads to Spain’s National Police in the Plus Ultra case, in cooperation through the American embassy in Madrid.
A big winner in this case is María Corina Machado, who recently held a massive rally in Madrid’s main square that few Spanish politicians could have matched. Machado was lambasted by Foreign Minister José Luis Albares for refusing to meet Sánchez or other leftwing leaders during her Madrid visit. Throughout her trip, when asked by journalists about this decision, Machado did not name Sánchez but thanked the Spanish government for receiving Venezuelan migrants over the years, while also stressing her utmost respect for Spanish institutions. It is false that Machado only met with the right-wing opposition: she appeared publicly with former PM Felipe González, a historic figure of Spanish social democracy and a key leader of the country’s famous Transition.
Machado may now be feeling some relief about how the whole Spanish saga is unfolding (both Zapatero and Machado have acknowledged they have never spoken to each other).
In another era, she might have summed it up with one of her classic phrases: se los dije.
Lupa Systems, the media and tech holding company owned by James Murdoch, is set to acquire nearly half of Vox Media.
As part of the deal, Murdoch’s company will own Vox Media’s podcast network, Vox.com and New York Magazine, once an asset of his father, industry giant Rupert Murdoch. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the price tag was reportedly over $300 million, the New York Times reported citing people familiar with the deal. The goal of the investment is to bring “influential journalists, top-rated podcasts, and digital brands with large social footprints” to Lupa and help grow its media portfolio, the company announced Wednesday.
“This acquisition aligns well with our existing holdings and investments and reflects both our interest in the forward edge of culture and our deep commitment to ambitious journalism and agenda-setting conversations,” Murdoch said in a statement.
The three new assets will function as a subsidiary of Lupa Systems and will keep the name Vox Media. The deal includes New York Magazine’s popular verticals like The Cut, Vulture and Intelligencer, as well as Vox’s most successful podcasts like “Today, Explained” and “Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway.” Jim Bankoff, Vox Media’s current CEO, will continue to lead the company.
The other Vox Media properties, which Murdoch did not purchase, include websites like Eater, The Dodo and The Verge. These platforms will be run under an unnamed new company by the current president of Vox Media, Ryan Pauley.
This investment strengthens Lupa Systems’ position in the evolving media landscape. The business has other holdings including the parent company of Tribeca Film Festival, the owner of Art Basel, Robert DeNiro and Jane Rosenthal’s entertainment company Tribeca Enterprises, and Bodhi Tree Systems, an investment platform behind a popular Indian streaming service.
This is one of the largest deals Murdoch has closed since he and his family resolved a $3.3-billion dispute last year. The conflict centered on the future of the family’s media empire, which includes Fox News, The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal. In the settlement, James Murdoch received roughly $1 billion and his elder brother, Lachlan, assumed power over the family’s assets.
Before the legal blowout, Murdoch previously served as the chief executive of major global media companies like 21st Century Fox and Europe’s Sky Group.
The billionaire told the New York Times that, with this new acquisition, he didn’t want a “daily news business.” He wanted “longer-form, thoughtful journalism that can really speak to the culture.”
Mirae Asset Group founding Chairman Park Hyeon-joo delivers a keynote speech at the launch event for the “Sage Beyond” platform in Seoul on Tuesday. Photo by Mirae Asset Securities
SEOUL, May 20 (UPI) — South Korea’s Mirae Asset Securities said Wednesday it launched the “Sage Beyond” platform geared toward sharing its insights with young business leaders.
The Seoul-based brokerage house said Sage Beyond would pass on its philosophy of innovation-driven growth.
The platform came to light when Mirae Asset Group founding Chairman Park Hyeon-joo delivered a keynote speech to about 140 participants. He is often referred to as South Korea’s Warren Buffett, the legendary U.S. investor.
Park shared insights into the mindset and strategic vision needed for the next generation of leaders, stressing innovation and sustainable long-term growth, according to the company.
It said it plans to strengthen partnerships with young executives through various programs linked to Sage Beyond, including regular forums focused on macroeconomic insights.
The introduction of Sage Beyond is also part of the company’s broader effort to upgrade its premium wealth management service brand, “Sage,” it said.
While Sage Beyond targets young business leaders in their 30s and 40s, “Sage Jr.” is aimed at university-age children from client families as a next-generation leadership development program.
“Sage Beyond is a platform designed to build partnerships with young leaders who value innovation,” Mirae Asset Securities said in a statement. “By continuously providing insights on management and investment, we hope to help them achieve sustainable growth.”
The share price of Mirae Asset Securities dipped 6.63% on the Seoul bourse Wednesday, while the broader KOSPI edged down 0.86%.
Just-in-time account funding may be right around the corner as tokenization provides real-time capabilities.
Banks, broker-dealers, and clearing agencies could soon reduce capital buffers as Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) moves closer to operationalizing tokenization through its subsidiary, Depository Trust Company (DTC).
The DTC—which provides book-entry custody for more than $114 trillion in assets, such as municipal bonds, corporate bonds, corporate stocks, and money market instruments from the U.S. and more than 131 other countries and territories—expects to launch a limited first phase of its tokenization service in July. The full service is scheduled to roll out in October.
In December 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) granted the industry utility permission for a three-year pilot to process highly liquid assets, including components of the Russell 1000 Index, exchange-traded funds that track other major U.S. indices, and various Treasuries. The intent is to give tokenized securities the same entitlements, protections, and ownership rights as assets currently held in DTC custody.
“Our vision is coming to fruition,” said Frank La Salla, president and CEO of DTCC, in Monday’s announcement. “Tokenization has the potential to reshape market structure by improving liquidity, transparency and efficiency.”
Tokenization—which creates a digital representation of a tangible asset like real estate or municipal bonds—is no longer just a finance-sector buzzword. More companies are weaving tokens into their corporate finance strategies, using them in a wide array of instruments, including smart contracts, stablecoins and tokenized U.S. Treasury bills.
The DTCC developed the tokenization platform in collaboration with the DTCC Industry Working Group, which includes more than 50 custodians, asset managers, broker-dealers, and market infrastructure providers across traditional and decentralized finance. The group is focused on aligning standards and preparing market participants for new operational and settlement workflows.
Despite the infrastructure milestone, the near-term implications for corporate treasurers may be limited.
“I don’t see a material benefit yet for CFOs,” said David Easthope, senior analyst and head of fintech research at Coalition Greenwich. “The more immediate value proposition is coming from stablecoins, not tokenized securities.” He added that the benefits for issuers, and their representatives like CFOs and treasurers, “are much further out in the tech cycle that we are in.”