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BlackRock Inc. said on Monday that it is hiring a prominent law firm to conduct an internal review after a report in a commercial publication detailed complaints from new employees about the conduct of executives, including senior leader Mark Wiedman.
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BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in a memo from the entire team on Monday that the company is hiring law firm Paul Weiss to conduct a review, following complaints and other incidents that have surfaced in recent weeks. .
A copy of the memo was provided to Reuters by a company spokesman and is the latest in a series of penitent statements by the world’s largest asset manager.
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This time, Fink was responding to an article published by Institutional Investor that described a “brother culture” within BlackRock and detailed inappropriate comments made by Wiedman, for which he apologized.
These incidents “shouldn’t happen at BlackRock,” wrote Fink. A spokesman for Paul Weiss did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
With about $ 8.7 trillion under management, BlackRock has become one of the most influential voices that presses for more diversity on the board and minority representation in other companies whose shares it owns.
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However, BlackRock itself has faced an increasing number of complaints from women and minority officials about its treatment.
Last month, BlackRock outlined plans to strengthen its process to investigate workers’ concerns and expand training after former employees shared accounts on social media about racial and sexual harassment.
On Monday, the commercial publication Institutional Investor said it spoke to several current and former BlackRock employees, who described how their experiences clashed with BlackRock rhetoric. The report described how Wiedman, the company’s head of international and corporate strategy, made inappropriate comments, such as asking a woman publicly about choosing underwear at an employee dinner, which took place about a decade ago.
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In a statement sent by the spokesman to Reuters and the Institutional Investor, Wiedman said that “these comments were an awkward and misguided attempt to build camaraderie that failed terribly, and I’m sorry.”
In response to the Institutional Investor article, a company spokesman said: “BlackRock is committed to building a diverse company and an inclusive culture. There are episodes told in this story that are terrible and such behavior should never occur at BlackRock. “