Newsmax host Carl Higbie on Thursday outlined evidence for why America’s largest investment firm may have played a role in the ousting of Tucker Carlson from Fox News.
Carlson, who separated from the network on Monday, has been vocally at odds with some of investment strategies of BlackRock, which controls $8.6 trillion in assets, or roughly twice the amount that all American taxpayers pay annually.
During his nightly segments, Carlson often criticized the environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) investment strategy spearheaded by BlackRock and other firms seeking to capitalize on so-called “woke” capital management.
BlackRock, which holds a 15 percent stake in Fox News, has made a series of other investments put at risk by the opinions of Carlson including in Covid-19 vaccine maker Pfizer and investments dumped by the state government of Florida where Governor Ron DeSantis sought to stamp out ESG from its portfolio.
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Tucker Carlson parting ways with Fox News raises questions
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While careful to not draw conclusions, Higbie suggested that the timing of BlackRock’s losses was coincidentally close to Carlson’s ouster. DeSantis pulled roughly $2 billion out from under BlackRock in December, and company executives admitted in January that anti-ESG messaging had cost the company $4 billion in 2022.
Last year, President Joe Biden tapped BlackRock chair Tom Denilon to advise the State Department on business investments in China as a member of the Foreign Affairs Policy Board.
“Now to be clear, there is no proof BlackRock fired Tucker Carlson and I am certainly not asserting that. I just think it’s an interesting trail of money,” mused Higbie.
Carlson, who commanded a nightly audience of three million viewers, was dismissed after a decision by Fox founder Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan following a $787 million agreement reached by the network with Dominion Voting Systems to settle allegations of defamatory statements made by Carlson and others. Carlson on Thursday released a cryptic video message to followers where he concluded by saying “true things prevail” and “there is hope.”