BlackRock’s Fink Vows No Layoffs Due to Impact of Coronavirus

(Bloomberg) -- BlackRock Inc. won’t layoff any employees this year as a result of the coronavirus, according to chief executive officer Larry Fink.

The world’s largest asset manager will also pay full-time wages to the people staffing its facilities, including cafeteria and maintenance workers, even if they can’t come to work, Fink said Wednesday in a post on LinkedIn. More than 90% of BlackRock employees are working remotely. The firm employs more than 16,000 people worldwide.

The announcement comes as global companies grapple with major changes to their businesses, with the pandemic spurring an unprecedented shift to working from home. Fink said last month he had “never experienced anything like this” in more than four decades working in finance, but expected the economy to recover eventually.

New York-based BlackRock oversaw $7.4 trillion in assets at the end of December.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide is about 1.5 million.

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