iShares

The investment company later named iShares, Inc. was organized as a Maryland corporation on August 31, 1994, as an open-end management investment company; its names on record with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission were successively Foreign Fund Inc and WEBS Index Fund Inc, the latter used until April 2000.⁠[1][2][2]

On March 6, 1996, the company’s first 17 funds tracking MSCI country indexes began operations, covering markets including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom; their shares were then known as World Equity Benchmark Shares, or WEBS.⁠[1][1][1][1]

In April 2000, the WEBS Index Fund name on record was retired, and the fund series thereafter carried the iShares name, with the existing country funds renamed the iShares MSCI series; between May and July of that year, the iShares MSCI South Korea, Taiwan, Brazil and EMU index funds began operations. The funds were advised by Barclays Global Fund Advisors, indirectly owned by Barclays Bank and a wholly owned subsidiary of Barclays Global Investors (BGI).⁠[2][1][1][1]

On May 15, 2000, the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (ticker IVV), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was launched.⁠[3]

On June 11, 2009, BlackRock announced an agreement with Barclays to acquire Barclays Global Investors, including iShares. At the time iShares had over $300 billion in assets under management in more than 350 funds worldwide and had ranked among the top three selling mutual fund and ETF families for the previous three years; Barclays had earlier agreed, under a “go shop” arrangement allowing it to seek a better offer, to sell the iShares business to another party.⁠[4][4][4][4]

On December 1, 2009, BlackRock completed its merger with BGI; the combined firm operates under the BlackRock name and retained the iShares brand. The acquisition was valued at $13.5 billion in total.⁠[5][5][6]

On January 5, 2024, the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (ticker IBIT), which seeks to reflect the performance of the price of bitcoin, was incepted with a sponsor fee of 0.25%; as of October 20, 2026, its net assets were about $66.86 billion.⁠[7][7][7][7]

On June 24, 2024, the iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ticker ETHA) was incepted with a sponsor fee of 0.25%; as of October 20, 2026, its net assets were about $8.08 billion.⁠[8][8][8]

In 2025, BlackRock’s ETF net inflows reached a record $527 billion, leading global ETF flows; equity ETFs took in $289 billion, fixed income ETFs $175 billion, digital asset exchange-traded products $35 billion, commodities $25 billion (led by gold) and active ETFs $54 billion, and about a quarter of net inflows went into products launched in the previous five years. As of December 31, 2025, iShares ETF assets under management were $5.5 trillion, and ETFs made up 42% of BlackRock’s long-term assets under management.⁠[9][10][10][9][9][9][9][9][9][9][9]

In January and February 2026, iShares took in $103 billion of net inflows, nearly double the level at the same point in 2025.⁠[10][10]

In the second quarter of 2026, iShares assets under management passed $6 trillion, roughly double the level of three years earlier.⁠[11]

In the third quarter of 2026, iShares generated $135 billion of net inflows, diversified across product categories and global product lines; as of September 30, 2026, BlackRock’s ETF assets under management were about $6.36 trillion, and ETF base fees and securities lending revenue for the quarter were $2.762 billion.⁠[12][12][12]

iShares offers both index-tracking ETFs, which seek to replicate the performance of a specific index, and active ETFs, whose portfolio managers actively select and adjust holdings; its U.S. website organizes funds by asset class, including equity, fixed income, digital assets, commodities and real estate. The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF, for example, has an expense ratio of 0.03% and had net assets of about $885.77 billion as of October 20, 2026.⁠[9][9][13][3][3]

iShares: Official website: https://www.ishares.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[13]