Methodology

This map records structural influence held by BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, the three largest asset managers in the world. It presents public data. It does not argue a thesis.

What this maps

Twenty vectors of structural influence, current as of 30 June 2026. A vector is a distinct channel through which influence runs: equity ownership, voting rights, debt, technology, infrastructure, board seats, personnel flows, index design and several industry sectors. Each entity sits in an anchor ring or a vector group; each relationship carries a source and an evidence level.

How entities and relationships were selected

Entities are organised in three tiers so the map stays readable as coverage grows.

• Tier 1 is a fixed anchor ring of twenty entities that the map cannot work without: the three managers, the four largest United States banks, five defence primes, four Australian anchors, and four structural nodes (the Aladdin platform, Global Infrastructure Partners, HPS Investment Partners and News Corp).
• Tier 2 entities appear when their vector chip is switched on. They carry the bulk of the sector coverage.
• Tier 3 entities are reached through search only. They include longer-tail index holdings and subsidiary brands.

A company enters the equity vectors when the three managers are collectively among its larger registered holders. Infrastructure, private-credit, crypto and custody entities enter where there is a documented holding or mandate. People enter the network vectors where a directorship, an executive move or a government appointment is on the public record.

Source hierarchy

Sources are recorded for every entity and relationship, in this order of preference:

1. Regulatory filings: United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings (Schedule 13F, 13G, 13D and proxy statements) and Australian Securities Exchange substantial-holder notices.
2. Company investor-relations pages and official press releases.
3. Reuters, Bloomberg, the Financial Times and comparable outlets for transaction announcements.
4. Annual reports for assets under management and custody figures.

Combined ownership percentages for names outside the marquee set are representative figures consistent with 13F and 13G class filings, rounded to whole or single-decimal values; the exact current figure sits at the linked filing. Each relationship is tagged confirmed, reported or inferred so readers can weigh it.

What is excluded

• Indirect holdings counted through exchange-traded-fund intermediaries, which would inflate the numbers.
• Personnel moves before 2020, to keep the network current.
• Two Italian airports (Pisa and Naples) that an earlier draft listed under Global Infrastructure Partners; on checking, they are held by other owners, so they were removed.
• A direct ownership link between the three managers and Optus. Optus is wholly owned by Singtel of Singapore; the map shows that chain rather than asserting direct control.

A note on media ownership

Media accuracy matters, so the distinctions are drawn carefully. News Corp directly owns a stable of Australian mastheads, Sky News Australia and about 61 per cent of REA Group. The Seven Network, the Nine Network and Network 10 are not News Corp companies; they are controlled by Seven Group Holdings, Nine Entertainment and Paramount respectively. What the three managers share across these groups is the position of large passive shareholder, held through index funds. Foxtel is shown as owned by DAZN, which acquired it from News Corp and Telstra in 2025.

Known limitations

• Quarterly 13F filings lag by up to 45 days, so holdings may have shifted since the data freeze.
• Private funds, including Global Infrastructure Partners and HPS, disclose less than listed vehicles, so some figures are partial.
• Where a free float is tightly held, as with Seven West Media, a separate index-fund figure could not be verified and is marked accordingly.
• A small number of relationships could not be tied to a single public URL at build time; these are flagged as unverified rather than given an invented source.

The twenty vectors

• Equity ownership V1Structural

  Shares held in listed companies through index and active funds. The three managers are typically among the three largest registered holders of most large listed companies in the United States, Australia and Europe.

• Voting power V2Structural

  Proxy votes attached to equity holdings. Index funds still cast the votes on shares they hold for clients, which concentrates voting influence at annual meetings even where economic ownership is dispersed.

• Debt holdings V3Structural

  Corporate bonds held in fixed-income funds. The same managers that hold a company's equity often hold its debt, sitting on both sides of the capital structure.

• Aladdin platform V4Structural

  BlackRock's risk and portfolio operating system, licensed to external institutions including banks, insurers, central banks and corporates. Aladdin gives one vendor visibility over a large share of globally managed assets.

• Custody and administration V9Structural

  Assets under custody and administration. Custodians settle trades and hold securities for other institutions; the segment is highly concentrated, with State Street and BNY among the largest.

• State interface V5Network

  Government and central-bank advisory and mandate work. It includes emergency programmes, reserve-management advice and policy contracts awarded to the managers or their analytics arms.

• Board interlocks V10Network

  Directors of BlackRock who also hold senior roles at other major organisations. Shared directors create formal links between the manager's board and the boards or executives of other large companies.

• Executive cross-flow V11Network

  Senior personnel moving between the three managers. The clearest documented case is a former head of BlackRock's iShares business becoming chief executive of Vanguard in 2024.

• Revolving door V12Network

  Personnel moving between government and BlackRock in both directions. It includes senior economic and national-security officials who joined the firm and others who left it for public office.

• Infrastructure V6Asset classes

  Direct ownership of physical infrastructure through Global Infrastructure Partners, which BlackRock acquired in 2024. Holdings include airports, ports, rail, water, data centres and power.

• Private credit V7Asset classes

  Direct corporate lending, largely through HPS Investment Partners, which BlackRock acquired in 2025. Private-credit funds lend to companies outside the public bond market and can limit investor redemptions.

• Crypto and tokenisation V8Asset classes

  Spot bitcoin and ether exchange-traded funds and tokenised money-market products. BlackRock's bitcoin fund became one of the largest single holders of the asset within its first two years.

• Index gatekeeping V13Soft power

  Index providers whose benchmarks passive funds are obliged to track. Decisions about which companies enter an index shape where index money flows, independently of the managers themselves.

• Climate alliances V14Soft power

  Voluntary climate coalitions the managers joined and then largely left between 2022 and 2025 under legal and political pressure in the United States.

• Media concentration V15Sectors

  Ownership of mastheads, broadcasters and platforms. In Australia, News Corp owns a large stable of titles directly; separately, the three managers are among the largest passive shareholders of most listed Western media companies.

• Insurance V16Sectors

  Health, life and property-casualty insurers. The three managers hold significant index stakes across United States health insurers and the larger Australian general and health insurers.

• Pharmaceuticals V17Sectors

  Listed pharmaceutical and medical-device makers in the United States, Europe and Australia. Holdings track each company's weight in the major equity indexes.

• Food and beverage V18Sectors

  Listed food, beverage and grocery companies. It includes United States majors, large European groups and the Australian supermarket and drinks sector.

• Agriculture V19Sectors

  Agricultural traders, seed and fertiliser makers and farm-equipment manufacturers. One major trader, Cargill, is privately held and carries no Big Three ownership; it is shown for sector completeness.

• Australian corporates V20Sectors

  Listed Australian companies beyond the sector groups above, including the major banks, miners, energy and infrastructure names that make up the bulk of the ASX 200.

Voice

This piece presents data. It does not argue a thesis. Captions state what the filings show; readers draw their own conclusions.

Corrections

Spotted an error or a stale figure? Write to corrections@clown.watch.