Florida’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) said on Thursday that the state will remove their $2 billion in assets from BlackRock.
This marks the biggest divestment by a state government who does not approve of environmental, social and corporate (ESG) means of managing large groups of assets.
BlackRock currently holds $8 trillion in assets. The $2 billion divestment is very small in comparison. However, Florida’s move is consistant with the state’s ongoing effort, as Ron DeSantis said, to be “the place where woke goes to die.”
In a statement Florida SFO Jimmy Patrionis said, “Florida’s Treasury Division is divesting from BlackRock because they have openly stated they’ve got other goals than producing returns”
ESG’s have been a flashpoint among conservative circles, with many calling it “woke.” The company prioritizes companies who choose politics over profits.
Justin Danhof, head of corporate governance at Strive Asset Management, denounced the “societal cancers” of ESG, stakeholder capitalism, wokeism plaguing the nation. Danhof defined the “societal cancers” as “whatever an interest group is trying to achieve the business they can’t get done at the ballot box”
