BlackRock BLK

Founded in 1988 by Larry Fink and his merry band of Wall Street renegades, BlackRock has morphed from a scrappy bond trading firm into the Darth Vader of global finance, wielding $9 trillion in assets like a death star of economic influence. Known for its Aladdin platform, which sounds more whimsical than its Big Brother-esque data-driven market domination, BlackRock’s fingerprints are on everything from your 401(k) to climate change policies. A defining moment? Buying up every bad mortgage during the 2008 financial crisis, emerging as the black knight savior—and getting rich in the process. The firm’s controversies are as hefty as its portfolios: CEO Fink’s cozy relationship with the Federal Reserve, the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investing push that’s as polarizing as pineapple on pizza, and accusations of being too woke or not woke enough, depending on which side of the echo chamber you’re in. With Fink still at the helm, BlackRock continues to shape markets, politics, and probably your mom’s retirement plan. Despite scandals, including its alleged role in the GameStop short squeeze saga, BlackRock remains the undisputed overlord of asset management, proof that in the world of finance, size does matter.