Laid off from BlackRock.

What BlackRock layoffs have meant for employees

When BlackRock cut about 500 jobs in January 2019, Bloomberg's report in Fortune described a big round every three years or so. From January 2025 through June 2026 the pattern ran differently, with a few hundred people let go in each of those Januaries and Junes. The firm's two 2026 statements kept one even tone. "Improving BlackRock is a constant priority," ran the January statement that People Matters printed, and the June one that American Bazaar quoted called the cuts "the ordinary discipline of a continuously evolving organization." That steadiness is the firm's view of its own process. If you're one of the people cut, the calm language doesn't make losing the job any easier.

The 2024 and 2025 cuts came from a firm that kept growing. The January 2025 memo that WealthManagement.com reported counted 3,750 people added in 2024 and expected 2,000 more in 2025, and InvestmentNews put the workforce that June at 14% above the end of 2023, much of the growth from the Global Infrastructure Partners and Preqin deals. Even the January 2024 memo announcing a cut, which Banking Dive covered, expected a larger staff by the end of that year. For anyone cut, that stings twice. It's hard to be let go by a firm that was growing, and it also means BlackRock was adding people in other parts of the business in those same years, so if a posting elsewhere in the firm fits you, it's worth asking whether laid-off employees can apply.

The percentages in these reports are global. BlackRock's 2025 annual report counted about 24,900 people across more than 30 countries, about 60% of them outside the United States, so each recent round's few hundred people came out of a staff spread over several continents, and a headline percentage can't show whether your own team lost anyone. Both of the firm's state layoff notices in our WARN tracker were filed in California, in 2016 and 2019, and our California unemployment page covers a claim there. If you work at BlackRock in New York, the New York unemployment benefits page does the same for that state.

The severance formula in BlackRock's 2026 proxy statement is built on years of service and paid as one lump sum, so among the eligible staff it covers, newer hires get the least and long-serving people far more. If you're offered severance and your job is in the US, it's worth asking HR whether your situation counts as eligible under the plan and how it counts your years of service. The annual reports show what the firm booked for severance in its restructuring charges, $58 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 and $47 million a year later, then $27 million in the second quarter of 2025, and each charge carried a further amount tied to previously granted compensation awards. If you're among the staff outside the United States, the plan the proxy describes is written for employees based in the US, so it's worth asking HR which severance terms cover you.

A round the firm treats as routine still leaves you with questions worth settling with HR. If you're offered severance, it's worth asking which service date the plan uses to count your years. If you have stock awards that haven't vested, you can ask which terms and dates apply to them. If you're still at BlackRock, keeping your own record of your service dates and award grants costs little.

A sourced history of BlackRock layoffs

• June 2026, 200 jobs across BlackRock teams

  BlackRock cut 200 jobs after three rounds in the previous 18 months, and a spokesperson, per American Bazaar, said the firm is always reviewing staffing across its businesses.

• January 2026, BlackRock cuts about 250 jobs

  BlackRock cut roughly 250 people in functions that People Matters listed as including investment and sales, citing people familiar with the matter.

• June 2025, BlackRock set to cut about 300 jobs

  People with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg, in a report InvestmentNews carried, that about 300 of BlackRock's roughly 22,600 staff would go.

• January 2025, BlackRock memo cuts about 1% of staff

  In a memo WealthManagement.com reported, President Rob Kapito and COO Rob Goldstein told staff that about 1% of colleagues would leave and called it never easy.

• January 2024, BlackRock cuts about 600 jobs, or 3%

  The roughly 600 people cut, about 3% of staff, came from no single team or region, and Banking Dive reported that those affected were told before the firmwide memo went out.

• June 2023, BlackRock cuts under 1% of staff

  BlackRock made further cuts that month of less than 1% of staff, a figure Reuters reported and Banking Dive later carried.

• January 2023, BlackRock's first cut since 2019, about 500 jobs

  Larry Fink and Rob Kapito's memo cited "the uncertainty around us," and Bloomberg's report in Fortune put the cut at about 500, roughly 2.5%, which would still leave headcount about 5% above a year earlier.

• January 2019, BlackRock cuts about 500 jobs, or 3%

  In a memo Bloomberg described in a story Fortune carried, BlackRock set out to dismiss about 500 people, 3% of its workforce and its largest cut since 2016, and Rob Kapito cited growing market uncertainty.

• March 2016, BlackRock cuts 400 jobs

  BlackRock's 400-job cut was its last of similar size before 2019, by Bloomberg's account three years later in a story Fortune carried.

What to do if you're laid off from BlackRock

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. BlackRock's biggest hubs: California. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
• Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what BlackRock's hub states run: California, and every other state is here.
• Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
• Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
• Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.