BlackRock was originally the Financial Management portion of Peter G. Peterson and Stephen A. Schwarzman’s Blackstone Group. The Blackstone Group and BlackRock Financial Management both derive their name from their co-founders’ surnames; schwarz means “black” in German and Peter is derived from the Greek word πετρος meaning “stone”. Laurence Fink, who ran the Financial Management division of the Blackstone Group, was heavily involved with the initial creation of mortgage-backed securities, the same type of financial products that would later lead to the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-2009.

The Institute for International Economics is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research institution devoted to the study of international economic policy. The Institute’s annual budget is about $10 million. Support is provided by a wide range of charitable foundations, private corporations, and individuals and from earnings on the Institute’s publications and capital fund. The Institute has been directed by C. Fred Bergsten throughout its existence.