Fact Check: BlackRock Does Not Own Shares In Dominion Voting Systems

The asset management behemoth owns shares in an energy company with a similar name.

By Cameron Hilditch

May 3, 2023

BlackRock offices in New York City. (Photo by Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images)

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.

Blackrock owns a majority of Fox News and Dominion, Dominion(Blackrock) then sues Fox(Blackrock) and Tucker Carlson gets the boot.
— Kevin Sorbo (@ksorbs) April 25, 2023

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.

BlackRock has no ownership stake in Dominion Voting Systems, and we are not involved in the hiring and firing of employees at public companies in which our clients are invested. Dominion Voting Systems is owned by a private equity firm that is not affiliated with BlackRock.
— BlackRock (@BlackRock) April 26, 2023

Dominion Voting Systems did not immediately return The Dispatch Fact Check’s request for comment.

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