• $12.5 trillion BlackRock had a record first half for fundraising in its iShares ETF line.
• The firm wants to lean more heavily into higher-fee private market offerings.
• CEO Larry Fink and CFO Martin Small laid out the firm's goals on BlackRock's earnings call Tuesday.

There are lots of big numbers that come up on BlackRock earnings calls. It's what happens when you're the largest asset manager in the world.

The key thing for investors in the firm and competitors tracking the behemoth from afar is deciphering which of the gaudy current-day figures will keep growing and which of the optimistic projections will actually happen.

BlackRock already manages $12.5 trillion in assets across institutions, insurers, pensions, and wealthy people, mostly in public markets. It's spent the last year and a half acquiring businesses that would help it move more of that money into lucrative private markets, where fees are higher and capital is stickier.

At its investor day last month, the firm laid out its goal to hit $35 billion in annual revenue in 2030, an increase from $20 billion in 2024.

Business Insider highlighted five stats from the firm's Tuesday call with analysts to demonstrate asset manager is currently and where it hopes to be in five years.

$152 billion

The net inflows into BlackRock products in the first half.

The influx of assets was led by a record six months from the firm's iShares ETF line, which brought in a net $192 billion of new money.

BlackRock's existing business, particularly its low-fee index investing funds, is the biggest pile of money in the industry and is still growing consistently.

Still, the first half of the year was not perfect, as some of the firm's actively traded products experienced a performance dip.

58%

The decline in performance fees collected by BlackRock in the first half of 2025 compared to the first half of 2024.

Rocky equity and bond markets worldwide, caused primarily by the trade policies proposed by President Donald Trump, have been challenging for investors of all sizes to deal with.

At BlackRock, the firm's profit margin dipped to 43.3% this quarter compared to 44.1% in last year's second quarter, and CFO Martin Small attributed 75% of that drop to the decline in performance fees.

Active equity funds in particular have had a rough 12-month stretch, the firm's earnings supplement shows: Only 40% of assets are above the index or peer median.

The firm also noted that private market funds brought in fewer performance fees than last year, but the firm's ambitions for that space remain as large as ever.

$450 million

The amount of revenue HPS Investment Partners is expected to add to BlackRock's coffers in the third quarter, according to Small. The deal for the $165 billion private credit shop closed at the start of July, and Small said the firm will issue the equivalent of up to 13.8 million shares of BlackRock common stock to retain the team at the firm.

The retention of HPS's team will be critical for BlackRock, which wants to fundraise significantly for its private-credit and infrastructure offerings over the next five years.

$400 billion

The fundraising goal for private market fundraising through 2030. Small said he expects it to ramp up in 2028 as HPS and Global Infrastructure Partners, the firm's other large private market investor acquisition, become more ingrained in the firm.

CEO Larry Fink said that he was in Asia last week, where demand for infrastructure and other private-public partnerships is already "beyond our imagination."

Those partnerships — the firm has pulled in Singapore's Temasek in its artificial intelligence infrastructure push — will be needed if the manager hopes to hit its revenue goals.

30%

The proportion of the firm's revenue that it wants to derive from its private markets funds and tech services platform, led by Aladdin, by 2030.

The New York-based firm made nearly $10.7 billion in revenue in 2025's first half, driven by its equity ETFs, which hauled in $2.8 billion in revenue alone. Tech services, meanwhile, made roughly a third of that in the same time frame.

BlackRock's Aladdin platform already serves more than 200 institutional clients, effectively making the firm an infrastructure provider to many of its clients and some of its competitors.

But the firm's fundraising push for its private market offerings also includes the hope that individual retirement accounts in the US will soon be open to such options.

Fink and Small both said that litigation reform is needed before that could happen, but are optimistic about what they've heard out of Washington on the subject.

"We think we have all the building blocks here," Small said.

Correction July 15, 2025: An earlier version of this story misstated BlackRock's revenue target for its private markets and technology businesses by 2030. The goal is for these segments to account for 30% of the firm's revenue, not 40%.

• $6 billion New Holland Capital has started a new unit to recruit internal investment staff.
• The firm had previously invested in external funds in a structure similar to a fund-of-funds.
• Former North Rock Capital COO Omar Qaiser was hired to lead the new platform named Plum Island.

The competition for top investing talent is higher than ever.

Megafunds like Izzy Englander's Millennium, Ken Griffin's Citadel, and Steve Cohen's Point72 offer moneymakers tens of millions in potential payouts and top-tier perks. Up-and-coming funds and new launches such as Verition, Walleye, and Jain Global are constantly scouring the landscape for investors. Explosive growth in private market assets means PE funds and new private credit firms need head count.

In short, it's a labor market that favors the employee, not the employer. Englander himself called it a "talent bubble" in 2023.

Despite this dynamic, $6 billion New York-based New Holland Capital is expanding from its traditional, fund-of-funds structure with a new unit focused on bringing investment talent in-house. Plum Island Partners, named after a small spit of land off Long Island discovered by Dutch explorers in the 17th century, will be run by Omar Qaiser, according to a note sent to clients seen by Business Insider. Qaiser is the former COO of investment platform North Rock Capital.

"While the majority of our platform will continue to be composed of external teams, we've now established Plum Island Partners to serve as New Holland's internal trading and operations arm," the note reads.

"While our focus on niche, capacity-constrained strategies will not change, this evolution allows us to expand the universe of potential PMs to include those who have no interest in running a business," the note adds.

When it comes to potential payouts, small platforms cannot compete with firms like Millennium and Citadel. But there are investment strategies that can only manage a certain amount of money — say $100 million — that are not of interest to the biggest players because the potential returns are too marginal to make a difference, several smaller platforms have said.

Some tenured investors are also looking for more customized risk parameters, which the largest funds struggle to offer given their organizations' size.

It's why places like New Holland, among other smaller funds, have decided to bring more talent in-house even as bigger firms like Millennium increasingly allocate to external managers.

"We're trying to be indifferent — we want to find good talent and have a home for them," said New Holland CEO Scott Radke, who noted that he still expects most of the firm's investors to be external.

He said the manager has more than 40 external managers right now, while Plum Island has one internal PM, an equity capital markets investor. The new unit expects to add several more this year, but has no set goal.

New Holland began as an investment advisor for Dutch pension plans and has since become independent. Last month, it hired former Brevan Howard executive Stephan Brohme as its chief risk officer.

• The biggest hedge funds are battling it out to attract and retain top talent and outperform peers.
• Business Insider has talked to elite hedge funds to get a peek into their recruiting processes.
• From internships to high-paying tech jobs, here's what we know about their hiring practices.

The battle for talent in the hedge fund world is fiercer than ever — and it cuts across all levels and positions.

With six-figure starting salaries, intense work environments, and the chance to work alongside some of the industry's top investors, these roles are among the most competitive in finance.

Internships can pay over $5,000 a week. Salaries for entry-level analysts and software engineers are often in the six-figure range. Portfolio managers with winning strategies can take home tens of millions.

Business Insider spoke with top hedge fund managers like Citadel, Millennium, and Point72 about how they attract and evaluate talent, and what advice they'd give to anyone hoping to break in.

Here's everything we know about getting a job at a large hedge fund.

Internships

Years ago, the opaque and secretive world of hedge funds might not have been an obvious career choice for most college graduates on their path to Wall Street. However, these investing behemoths are now investing in getting young, diverse wunderkinder, especially mathletes, familiar with their brands as early as high school.

Internships are another talent pipeline for some of the biggest multi-strategy hedge funds, which employ armies of traders and engineers. Programs can be uber-competitive and harder to get into than many top Ivy League schools.

Citadel's summer internship program, for example, has become increasingly competitive. This year, the hedge fund accepted around 300 interns to spend 11 weeks at Griffin's hedge fund or his market maker, working with stock-pickers, quants, engineers, and more. The firm told BI that there were more than 108,000 applicants for the programs, with an acceptance rate of roughly 0.4%.

• Here's how to land a spot at Citadel's summer internship
• Citadel's associate program is a separate internship that puts rising college seniors on track to land a full-time investing role at the $66 billion fund.
• Ken Griffin's advice to interns: Hustle during your 20s and be aggressive when asking for a promotion

We also spoke to Point72 and D.E. Shaw about what they looked for in interns and how to stand out for a potential job offer down the line.

• Here's what it takes to stand out as an intern at Steve Cohen's Point72 and land a job offer
• A D.E. Shaw internship could land a dream gig at the secretive hedge fund. Here's what it takes.

Analyst and investment training programs

In the past, hedge funds acquired investment talent from investment banks. Increasingly, however, the industry's top players are recruiting college students through intensive training programs that can lead to jobs straight out of college.

Creating a pipeline of portfolio managers has been an increasingly popular strategy for hedge funds locked in an increasingly expensive battle for top talent.

• How to get accepted into Point72's ultra-elite analyst training program, whose acceptance rate is less than 1%
• Inside Point72's PM incubator LaunchPoint, where Steve Cohen is known to grill up-and-comers who think they're ready for the big time
• Inside Balyasny's Anthem training program, where aspiring portfolio managers are handed hundreds of millions of dollars to prove they can cut it
• Behind the training programs at Balyasny, which is looking to get ahead in the war for investment talent

Tech jobs and training programs

Hedge funds have long been competing with the finance industry and top tech companies for top technologists. Engineers and algorithm developers are key to helping researchers, data scientists, and traders develop cutting-edge investment strategies and platforms. Quant shop D.E. Shaw also has a unique approach to finding talent.

• Inside Citadel's exclusive engineering program that's helped the hedge fund snap up talent from Google and Goldman Sachs
• Here's how to get a tech job at Millennium, from the programming language to know to the interview questions to prep for

Inside Man Group's popular training program for non-tech employees that teaches them skills to automate tasks and reduce errors in their work

A rundown of some of the gatekeepers to know

The "business development" role is one of the most important at hedge funds, as it specializes in scouting and evaluating investment hires. Knowing these in-house talent scouts and external recruiters is crucial.

• The rise of the hedge-fund talent whisperers
• The talent brokers of quant trading: The headhunters at the forefront of Wall Street's systematic-trading and data-science hiring frenzy
• Try our searchable database of more than 350 Wall Street headhunters to find your dream job in private equity, investment banking, or hedge funds

Other resources and advice

Here's a look at how some firms find and vet new employees, what skills and qualities they're looking for …

• Why quant giant D.E. Shaw seeks out academics, doctors, and veterans to work at the hedge fund
• Citadel portfolio manager explains how he rose in the ranks of the hedge fund and what he looks for in a new hire
• Inside the 5-hour psychological interview that can make or break your career at Citadel, Blackstone, and other finance titans

• Inside the spycraft hedge funds use to vet multimillion-dollar traders, which is edging into murky legal territory

• The biggest hedge funds are battling it out to attract and retain top talent and outperform peers.
• Business Insider has talked to elite hedge funds to get a peek into their recruiting processes.
• From internships to high-paying tech jobs, here's what we know about their hiring practices.

The battle for talent in the hedge fund world is fiercer than ever — and it cuts across all levels and positions.

With six-figure starting salaries, intense work environments, and the chance to work alongside some of the industry's top investors, these roles are among the most competitive in finance.

Internships can pay over $5,000 a week. Salaries for entry-level analysts and software engineers are often in the six-figure range. Portfolio managers with winning strategies can take home tens of millions.

Business Insider spoke with top hedge fund managers like Citadel, Millennium, and Point72 about how they attract and evaluate talent, and what advice they'd give to anyone hoping to break in.

Here's everything we know about getting a job at a large hedge fund.

Internships

Years ago, the opaque and secretive world of hedge funds might not have been an obvious career choice for most college graduates on their path to Wall Street. However, these investing behemoths are now investing in getting young, diverse wunderkinder, especially mathletes, familiar with their brands as early as high school.

Internships are another talent pipeline for some of the biggest multi-strategy hedge funds, which employ armies of traders and engineers. Programs can be uber-competitive and harder to get into than many top Ivy League schools.

Citadel's summer internship program, for example, has become increasingly competitive. This year, the hedge fund accepted around 300 interns to spend 11 weeks at Griffin's hedge fund or his market maker, working with stock-pickers, quants, engineers, and more. The firm told BI that there were more than 108,000 applicants for the programs, with an acceptance rate of roughly 0.4%.

• Here's how to land a spot at Citadel's summer internship
• Citadel's associate program is a separate internship that puts rising college seniors on track to land a full-time investing role at the $66 billion fund.
• Ken Griffin's advice to interns: Hustle during your 20s and be aggressive when asking for a promotion

We also spoke to Point72 and D.E. Shaw about what they looked for in interns and how to stand out for a potential job offer down the line.

• Here's what it takes to stand out as an intern at Steve Cohen's Point72 and land a job offer
• A D.E. Shaw internship could land a dream gig at the secretive hedge fund. Here's what it takes.

Analyst and investment training programs

In the past, hedge funds acquired investment talent from investment banks. Increasingly, however, the industry's top players are recruiting college students through intensive training programs that can lead to jobs straight out of college.

Creating a pipeline of portfolio managers has been an increasingly popular strategy for hedge funds locked in an increasingly expensive battle for top talent.

• How to get accepted into Point72's ultra-elite analyst training program, whose acceptance rate is less than 1%
• Inside Point72's PM incubator LaunchPoint, where Steve Cohen is known to grill up-and-comers who think they're ready for the big time
• Inside Balyasny's Anthem training program, where aspiring portfolio managers are handed hundreds of millions of dollars to prove they can cut it
• Behind the training programs at Balyasny, which is looking to get ahead in the war for investment talent

Tech jobs and training programs

Hedge funds have long been competing with the finance industry and top tech companies for top technologists. Engineers and algorithm developers are key to helping researchers, data scientists, and traders develop cutting-edge investment strategies and platforms. Quant shop D.E. Shaw also has a unique approach to finding talent.

• Inside Citadel's exclusive engineering program that's helped the hedge fund snap up talent from Google and Goldman Sachs
• Here's how to get a tech job at Millennium, from the programming language to know to the interview questions to prep for

Inside Man Group's popular training program for non-tech employees that teaches them skills to automate tasks and reduce errors in their work

A rundown of some of the gatekeepers to know

The "business development" role is one of the most important at hedge funds, as it specializes in scouting and evaluating investment hires. Knowing these in-house talent scouts and external recruiters is crucial.

• The rise of the hedge-fund talent whisperers
• The talent brokers of quant trading: The headhunters at the forefront of Wall Street's systematic-trading and data-science hiring frenzy
• Try our searchable database of more than 350 Wall Street headhunters to find your dream job in private equity, investment banking, or hedge funds

Other resources and advice

Here's a look at how some firms find and vet new employees, what skills and qualities they're looking for …

• Why quant giant D.E. Shaw seeks out academics, doctors, and veterans to work at the hedge fund
• Citadel portfolio manager explains how he rose in the ranks of the hedge fund and what he looks for in a new hire
• Inside the 5-hour psychological interview that can make or break your career at Citadel, Blackstone, and other finance titans

• Inside the spycraft hedge funds use to vet multimillion-dollar traders, which is edging into murky legal territory

• Saratoga Spring Water, in its distinct blue glass bottle, was everywhere at the Milken conference.
• The brand went viral earlier this year because of influencer Ashton Hall.
• The CEO of the brand's holding company spoke at the power-player-packed conference.

Last spring, billionaire Michael Arougheti had two light beers in hand and a good reason to celebrate — he had just become the co-owner of the Baltimore Orioles.

Arougheti, the CEO of investment manager Ares, was in Pickles Pub, a popular bar for fans near the team's iconic stadium, offering to buy everyone a beer.

The short video of a joyous Arougheti in Pickles was played Tuesday to the amusement of his fellow panelists, Todd Boehly and Michael Milken, at the latter's namesake global conference. Milken, a big healthcare donor who George Washington University's public health school is named after, had one critique.

"We're going to try and give you more healthy things to hold up," Milken said.

After spending three days traipsing around the ritzy Beverly Hills hotel where the conference is held, it was pretty obvious what that drink would be: Saratoga Spring Water.

The glass blue bottles — a 24-pack of 12-ounce bottles costs more than $40 on Amazon — were omnipresent during the conference, with tables laden with them around every corner. Panelists, including Boehly and Arougheti, sipped them onstage. Hotel employees clearing trash cans in common areas sometimes needed backup to get the glass-filled utility trash bags out of their containers.

The brand, which is a part of the beverage conglomerate Primo Brands, went viral earlier this year thanks to influencer Ashton Hall, whose alleged morning routine includes dunking his face into a bowl filled with several bottles of the distilled spring water. The company's chief marketing officer previously told Business Insider that Hall's use of their product was not an ad, but they were enjoying the attention nonetheless.

Hall's TikToks didn't come up during the conference, but the conglomerate's CEO, Robbert Rietbroek, spoke on a panel at Milken. CNBC anchor Sara Eisen introduced him by noting that "we're all drinking his waters."

Rietbroek said, "Our mission is to hydrate a healthy America," and that the decrease in alcohol consumption has given Saratoga a boost, he said, sitting next to a small side table with several of his "beautiful blue bottles" on it.

"We're seeing an expansion of bottled water through the first quarter of this year," he said, despite economic worries.

He said consumers are on the hunt "for alternate drinks," but at Milken, they were the house pour.