With Brinker Capital its first big proof of concept, BlackRock moves Aladdin onto Microsoft's cloud to automate portfolios at the RIA-client level to surpass what it always did at the fund level

BlackRock develops Aladdin and then buys E-Front for $1.3B for Alternatives. In 2018 - State Street bought Charles River for $2.6B; SS&C bought DST for $5.4B and Eze Software for $1.45B. What is really going on? Given the trends in asset management, they are positioning themselves to provide value-add to clients. Asset Managers will look to outsource more and these companies are building/buying the technical infrastructure to allow them to provide services higher-up up the value chain. In the wings are some stealth startup's who have identified this trend and feel that they can use an integrated ERP approach to be an innovator in this developing model. Will they really impact and reshape the technology base of the industry? Probably no, but they too could be bought for a large sum!