BlackRock Inc. said its third-quarter net income fell 15% from a year earlier, to $217.7 million, or $1.62 a share, as a result of turmoil in the global markets.
The stock market's slump took a sizable bite out of assets, the asset manager said Tuesday. Excluding items deemed nonrecurring by its management team, BlackRock reported earnings of $2.20 a share. On average, analysts had expected BlackRock to report earnings of $1.96 a share on revenue of $1.35 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.
Assets under management fell 12% from a quarter earlier and 3% from a year earlier, $1.26 trillion on Sept. 30.
"Though the first signs of a thaw have emerged, we have a long way to go," said Laurence Fink, BlackRock's chairman and chief executive.
"This is the only time I can remember that product diversification did not help — every asset class has suffered, and all market participants have been affected," he said. "No one, including BlackRock, is immune."
BlackRock's main line of business is running mutual funds, but it also advising big investors about how to get around land mines in the credit crisis.
