{"id":1723326,"date":"2022-11-03T13:03:29","date_gmt":"2022-11-03T17:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1723326"},"modified":"2022-11-03T13:03:36","modified_gmt":"2022-11-03T17:03:36","slug":"blackrock-makes-major-change-after-backlash-against-woke-investing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blackrock-makes-major-change-after-backlash-against-woke-investing\/","title":{"rendered":"BlackRock Makes Major Change After Backlash Against Woke Investing"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fblackrock-makes-major-change-after-backlash-against-woke-investing%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1723326&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/dailywire.com\/topic\/blackrock\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BlackRock<\/a> CEO Larry Fink said in a letter that his asset management company would extend choice in proxy voting to more large-scale investors.<\/p>\n<p>The firm, which handles roughly $8 trillion in assets, has been criticized for leveraging shareholder votes on behalf of clients to support the company\u2019s own interests, which are linked to the environmental, social, and governance movement, also known as <a href=\"http:\/\/dailywire.com\/topic\/esg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ESG<\/a>. The letter from Fink announced that BlackRock will promote a \u201cnew era of shareholder democracy\u201d by expanding voting choice to more institutional clients.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s clear there are investors who don\u2019t want to sit on the sidelines; they have a view on corporate governance, and they want a meaningful way to express those views,\u201d the executive wrote. \u201cWhile some pension funds have long been actively involved in corporate governance, we\u2019re working to make that easier and more efficient for a larger number of investors. We are committed to continually evolving this offering.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A number of conservative-led state governments have recently pulled funds from BlackRock and other asset managers over concerns that the companies\u2019 voting priorities, such as pressuring portfolio companies to transition away from fossil fuels, are a threat to their states\u2019 economies and the maximization of returns. In addition to divestments from South Carolina, Louisiana, Missouri, West Virginia, and Utah, the government of Texas revealed that BlackRock and nine other firms had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/texas-cuts-ties-with-blackrock-other-woke-firms-over-their-hatred-for-fossil-fuels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">violated<\/a> state law by \u201crefusing to deal with\u201d companies involved in the production and use of fossil fuels \u201cwithout an ordinary business purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fink clarified in his letter that nearly half of the company\u2019s index equity assets under management are now eligible for voting choice, including \u201call the public and private pension plan assets we manage in the United States.\u201d David Bahnsen, the founder of Manhattan-based wealth management firm The Bahnsen Group, told The Daily Wire that although the conservative backlash against ESG may be \u201cmarginally present\u201d as a factor behind BlackRock\u2019s move, executives are likely responding to broader market forces.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBlackrock is run by smart people. There is plenty to criticize and plenty to compliment, but they are not lacking in business savvy,\u201d Bahnsen said. \u201cThey see where the puck is going and are commendably trying to skate there first \u2026 I think the simplest explanation is that Blackrock sees the inevitability of change and evolution in this respect and is facilitating solutions gradually.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/poll-by-two-to-one-margin-investors-reject-woke-companies-pushing-political-causes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">exclusive poll<\/a> from The Daily Wire showed that 64% of respondents believe \u201cindividual investors whose savings are being invested\u201d should ultimately decide whether retirement and pension funds are allocated according to ESG standards, while a mere 20% believe that \u201cWall Street asset managers\u201d should make such decisions.<\/p>\n<p>Bahnsen added that voting choice for institutional clients is \u201ceasily scalable,\u201d while individual investors are unlikely to take advantage of the opportunity. \u201cThe technical and operational scale needed to deliver such a capability to individual clients will require more time and investment,\u201d he remarked. \u201cThey have to start with institutional clients first because they are the ones who will actually use it, where all studies indicate 99% of retail clients do not vote their shares even when they actually own them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in a letter that his asset management company would extend choice in proxy voting to more large-scale investors. The firm, which handles roughly $8 trillion in assets, has been criticized for leveraging shareholder votes on behalf of clients to support the company\u2019s own interests, which are linked to the environmental, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":1221606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1723326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1723326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1723326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1723326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1221606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1723326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1723326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1723326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}