BlackRock is presently being sued by the Tennessee Attorney General accusing the company of misleading investors of its ESG strategy.

BlackRock, the world’s largest money management firm, plans to announce layoffs in the coming days of about 3 percent of its global workforce, Fox Business has learned.

The job cuts of around 600 employees, which have yet to be reported, are being described internally as routine, according to a source familiar. Last year, BlackRock did a similar round of layoffs gauged on employee performance metrics, the source added.

Shares of BlackRock rebounded in 2023, up 6 percent after falling 21 percent in 2022. New customer money into BlackRock’s solid Exchange Traded Fund business exploded last year with $187 billion of inflows into the products that follow a basket of securities and trade like stocks on major exchanges.

It is unfortunate when people lose their jobs. However, their termination is largely Larry Fink’s fault due to his using BlackRock to promote Environmental Social Governance (ESG). Does Fink really want to turn to politics as a way of championing a cause or virtue signal in order to achieve some sort of fame outside of the financial world? It sure looks like it and he certainly fits the mold Thomas Sowell outlined as an intellectual, someone whose existence depends on ideas that do not apply to the real world. Worst of all, Fink pays no price for being wrong.

Regardless of the reasons for the layoffs, Fink is still committed to the cause. As Fox Business points out:

ESG, meanwhile, remains a big business with BlackRock’s foreign customers, including large sovereign wealth funds in Europe and the Middle East. Mark Wiedman, head of BlackRock’s client business, speaking at a recent event sponsored by the news outlet Semafor, called ESG “a demand from clients,” with around $1 trillion in pure sustainable assets being managed by BlackRock.

Fink is undoubtedly laying low until the coast is clear to start up his ESG nonsense when the opportunity permits. BlackRock still promotes ESG overseas while it is scrutinized in the United States.

PHOTO CREDIT: Pixabay