Major Bitcoin (BTC) investor BlackRock continues to build momentum, posting another successful quarter of income and managed assets.
BlackRock issued its financial results for the first quarter of 2024 on April 12, reporting a record $10.5 trillion in assets under management (AUM), up $1.4 trillion from 2023.
The company’s diluted earnings per share surged from $7.9 million in Q1 2023 to $9.81 million in Q1 2024.
The increase reflects higher non-operating income and a lower effective tax rate in the current quarter, the firm noted. Net income increased from $1.2 billion in Q1 2023 to roughly $1.5 billion in Q1 2024.
In the report, BlackRock also mentioned that the company issued $3 billion of debt to fund a portion of the cash consideration for the planned acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), an infrastructure investment fund focused on equity and selected debt investments.
BlackRock previously announced an agreement to acquire GIP as part of its Q4 2023 report, targeting the creation of a new infrastructure investment platform.
BlackRock’s record-breaking AUM came amid the company handling $76 billion of quarterly long-term net inflows, which already accounts for nearly 40% of full-year 2023 levels.
“BlackRock’s momentum continues to build, with accelerating client activity and line of sight into the funding of significant wealth, institutional, and Aladdin mandates,” BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said.
The CEO mentioned that BlackRock sees significant growth potential in infrastructure, technology, retirement and whole portfolio solutions, adding:
“Clients are turning to BlackRock to unlock the full potential of their portfolios, reflected in industry-leading total net inflows of $236 billion over the last twelve months.”
BlackRock is a major player in the cryptocurrency industry, operating one of the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT).
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As of April 10, IBIT has accumulated 266,580 BTC worth $18.5 billion since it started trading in January 2024.
Fink is known in the crypto community as a major Bitcoin bull and industry advocate. In March 2024, Fink reiterated that he was very bullish on the long-term success of Bitcoin in the context of the rapid growth of IBIT.
“IBIT is the fastest growing ETF in the history of ETFs. Nothing has gained assets as fast as IBIT in the history of ETFs,” the CEO stated.
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