BlackRock Shakes Up Equities Group, DeSpirito Leaves

BlackRock's Tony DeSpirito, global chief investment officer of fundamental equities, is leaving the firm along with three other employees. The asset manager plans to lean on AI, scale, research, and technology to generate returns. The moves are part of a shake-up in BlackRock's fundamental stock-investing group, which oversees $300 billion in assets and has struggled with performance. The firm is hiring Cem Inal from AllianceBernstein and integrating its fundamental equity derivatives team with the global markets group.