BlackRock compared to BGI - Vice President BlackRock Employee Review

2.0
29 Mar 2010
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Leveraged opportunities and lending to increase it's size over the past few years by agressively purchasing (right place / right time) Fortune favours the brave mentality (risk takers) Entrepreneurial drive Purchase of Merill Lynch and BGI brought in lots of fresh talent and bright people Buy versus grow business model

Cons

Unless part of the original BlackRock team, everyone that has started from a transition/merger or joined later, does not get a look into the senior positions New York centric management team and small firm mentality, it's run by the original founding members, the whole global reporting line, business functions and power sharing is split between the founding members. Power base in NY, if not in NY, then not really a decision maker Risk takers and lack of planning means approach is not ideal and things are duplicated or manual solutions put in place Not leading edge use of technology, more archaic and cheap (vendors are chosen as they are cheap or aggressively negotiated down) Firm's reputation is built around the front office, with middle and back office treated badly and paid below par Aladdin technology and the MD's that run BlackRock solutions are over protective of their proprietary software/system. Negative feedback is frowned upon and career limiting. Aggressive management with big egos to stroke in NY Redundancy pay is just above statutory (cheap) Stock price linked to Larry Fink (who knows what will happen if he stops buying companies and tries to grow the business organically or retire) - key person risk No downward delegation of decision making due to a lack of trust (run the same way as when it was formed in the 80's) Lack of investment in people or facilities - cheap company to work for (rewards to the front office to maintain reputations and keep star fund manager's - everyone else is discounted to support this culture) It's not what you know but who you know

Explore other reviews about BlackRock

5.0
21 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great company to gain experience

Cons

Not many cons, large organization

3.0
22 Feb 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

1. The executive leaders in the firm are doing a great job 2. Many people in the firm genuinely have a sense of pride working there 3. The (base) compensation is compatible with the market; bonus, however, is another story. 4. For the first ten years of my career in the firm, I made some great memories and made some great friends.

Cons

The culture of my organization started to shift away from a sensible approach and career nurturing to a hostile and confrontational one around 2 years ago. In several all-hands meetings, we were chastised for being "too nice" and were made clear that things would change. The anonymous feedback in the meetings was cut short or eliminated entirely because it didn’t paint a positive picture. In the last 2 years, 1. I was often asked and expected to answer, "Now.. what can you do for me?" in my 1:1 with my latest manager. 2. I was reminded more than once that English is my second language 3. I was reminded more than once by the manager that I should not speak during the meetings I was invited to because they weren’t in the right timing or not appropriate to the subject being discussed during the time There were many of these examples in the last two years with the firm that just seemed inconceivable; nevertheless, I had a great ride and met some genuine people that I consider friends even today.

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