False claims are circulating online that BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, owns significant shares in Fox News parent company Fox Corporation and in Dominion Voting Systems. BlackRock owns shares in Fox Corp. but not in Dominion Voting Systems.
The claim implies corruption in the recent settlement in which Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million.
Several of the posts allege that BlackRock owns 59 million shares in Dominion Voting Systems and 45.7 million shares in Fox Corp. The Fox Corp. figure appears to be accurate: A February 1 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosure filed by BlackRock declares ownership of 45,743,746 Fox Corp. shares.
But the 59 million shares cited in the social media posts as BlackRock’s stake in Dominion Voting Systems appears to be the number of shares it owns in Dominion Energy, an entirely separate company. A January 31 SEC disclosure filed by BlackRock declares the asset manager’s ownership of 59,148,081 shares in Dominion Energy Inc. The SEC lists no filings showing BlackRock owning Dominion Voting Systems shares.
BlackRock issued a statement via its official Twitter account that it “has no ownership stake in Dominion Voting Systems” on April 26.
Dominion Voting Systems did not immediately return The Dispatch Fact Check’s request for comment.
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