Vanguard owns Blackrock

[solon]

I learned something interesting today. I was looking through the list of stock holdings of the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. That fund owns 2.7 million shares of BlackRock, a rival investment company.

I guess it makes sense. BlackRock is a public company, with publicly traded shares. I just think it's funny that I own shares of a fund that owns shares of a company that sells shares in it's funds that own shares of other publicly traded companies. I wonder how deep this rabbit hole goes?

[solon]

As I look through the list of 3619 companies, I see there are many financial services companies in the list. Most companies (including financial services companies) are in the business of making a profit for their shareholders. Just further proof of Vanguard's uniqueness.

[HermanCain]

A very significant proportion of the economy is built upon financial engineering. I wouldn't get too worked up on it. With Vanguard you own businesses that produce tangible assets (cars, food). Financialization is a feature of western economies; people who think they're above real work have the political clout to enable largesse with no actual improvement of the world.

[marty998]

I learned something interesting today. I was looking through the list of stock holdings of the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. That fund owns 2.7 million shares of BlackRock, a rival investment company.

I guess it makes sense. BlackRock is a public company, with publicly traded shares. I just think it's funny that I own shares of a fund that owns shares of a company that sells shares in it's funds that own shares of other publicly traded companies. I wonder how deep this rabbit hole goes?

The taxman is the biggest winner in all that. The investor is at the other end (because s/he ends up with whatever is left after all the ticket-clippers have taken their cut)

[CptCool]

I learned something interesting today. I was looking through the list of stock holdings of the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. That fund owns 2.7 million shares of BlackRock, a rival investment company.

I guess it makes sense. BlackRock is a public company, with publicly traded shares. I just think it's funny that I own shares of a fund that owns shares of a company that sells shares in it's funds that own shares of other publicly traded companies. I wonder how deep this rabbit hole goes?

It's called a fund of funds & is fairly common. Usually there are high fees involved though - I've never really understood the purpose of them

[Proud Foot]

I learned something interesting today. I was looking through the list of stock holdings of the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. That fund owns 2.7 million shares of BlackRock, a rival investment company.

I guess it makes sense. BlackRock is a public company, with publicly traded shares. I just think it's funny that I own shares of a fund that owns shares of a company that sells shares in it's funds that own shares of other publicly traded companies. I wonder how deep this rabbit hole goes?

Not sure it really goes too much further.  You would get to BlackRock holding another financial services company in their funds. Go look at the funds of that other financial services company and they probably hold BlackRock. You get to the point you are just going in a circle with it all.

It's called a fund of funds & is fairly common. Usually there are high fees involved though - I've never really understood the purpose of them

I'm a little confused by your comment. Most Target Date funds are a fund of funds as are most lifestyle funds. It makes it easier for the investor to set their allocation and goals without having to worry about re-balancing.

The ones I really do not understand how they are still around are the private equity fund of funds. Why pay 2 net 20 for a fund who invests in funds with a 2 net 20? Only making a lot of money for the fund managers there!

[alanB]

I wonder how deep this rabbit hole goes?

At the bottom you find the company that owns you and then you can back-calculate what percent of yourself you own.