BlackRock's Fink Joins CEOs in Denouncing Virginia Violence

(Bloomberg) -- Laurence D. Fink, chief executive officer of BlackRock Inc., joined the group of corporate leaders condemning racial intolerance that became violent over the weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia.

"The events this past weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia, where innocent people were the victims of hate-fueled violence, were profoundly troubling," wrote Fink in an internal memo to employees on Monday. "What we saw there was domestic terrorism. It cannot be accepted, and it cannot be tolerated."

Prominent U.S. executives have denounced the events and several have quit a White House business group set up to advise President Donald Trump in a rare rebuke to a sitting president. Fink is a member of Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum, a group organized to provide input to the president on economic growth, job creation and productivity. Fink will continue in that role, said Brian Beades, a BlackRock spokesman.

In his memo, Fink reaffirmed BlackRock’s commitment to inclusion and diversity.

“In the face of such racism, it is important to reaffirm BlackRock’s commitment to inclusion and diversity,” he wrote. “These events have perhaps been felt most immediately by our colleagues in America, but they run contrary to the values we embrace around the world.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Sabrina Willmer in Boston at swillmer2@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Alan Mirabella, Vincent Bielski