They manage these huge funds. The people who invested in their funds own the stocks in the funds. Though these companies do vote during stockholder meetings on behalf of their clients without the clients inputs. Thus they wield a lot of power over many companies but they don’t own it all. If all their clients decide to drop them and liquidate they lose all that power.
Do they though? They do own a lot but sovereign wealth funds do too plus, unlike those AFAICT, one can easily switch from say a Vanguard ETF to whatever other investment vehicle they want in an instant. So yes they have tremendous power, too much, and they contribute to shaping markets worldwide… but it’s also not their actual money and other economical actors do exist.
So I’d argue “own” and “almost everything” is a big exaggerated.
PS: I’m not an economist so that’s just my candid understanding.
There was great writeup about it a few years ago that I can’t remember the name of at the moment. Basically, they all own each other as well. They all own portions of every company and together they all own over 50% in so many things that they have a controlling vote in a majority of board rooms. That is a VERY birds eye view of it but it’s not good.
They all own portions of every company and together they all own over 50% in so many things that they have a controlling vote in a majority of board rooms.
Thanks for the clarification. If you do find the article I’d be curious because if I check the
So… if I do roughly the sum of AUM I don’t even get to half of $100T. Maybe they have controlling shares (to define here because not sure I understanding correctly, i.e. single seat on board vs majority of seats in order to actual control) somehow in the US with a total valuation under $50T but somehow overall I don’t see how. Also together would mean some kind of coordination, which I’m not saying is impossible but beside generating more money I’m not sure they have a “goal” that would imply using said control.
Also a company called Vanguard. The 3 of them own almost everything
Isn’t Vanguard 401ks? Or is that a different Vanguard?
Yes
They manage these huge funds. The people who invested in their funds own the stocks in the funds. Though these companies do vote during stockholder meetings on behalf of their clients without the clients inputs. Thus they wield a lot of power over many companies but they don’t own it all. If all their clients decide to drop them and liquidate they lose all that power.
Do they though? They do own a lot but sovereign wealth funds do too plus, unlike those AFAICT, one can easily switch from say a Vanguard ETF to whatever other investment vehicle they want in an instant. So yes they have tremendous power, too much, and they contribute to shaping markets worldwide… but it’s also not their actual money and other economical actors do exist.
So I’d argue “own” and “almost everything” is a big exaggerated.
PS: I’m not an economist so that’s just my candid understanding.
There was great writeup about it a few years ago that I can’t remember the name of at the moment. Basically, they all own each other as well. They all own portions of every company and together they all own over 50% in so many things that they have a controlling vote in a majority of board rooms. That is a VERY birds eye view of it but it’s not good.
Thanks for the clarification. If you do find the article I’d be curious because if I check the
and others https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asset_management_firms whereas sovereign wealth funds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_wealth_fund#Largest_sovereign_wealth_funds are only up to $2T.
So… if I do roughly the sum of AUM I don’t even get to half of $100T. Maybe they have controlling shares (to define here because not sure I understanding correctly, i.e. single seat on board vs majority of seats in order to actual control) somehow in the US with a total valuation under $50T but somehow overall I don’t see how. Also together would mean some kind of coordination, which I’m not saying is impossible but beside generating more money I’m not sure they have a “goal” that would imply using said control.