Davos in decline? BlackRock CEO Larry Fink admits global ‘elites’ have lost public trust

DAVOS, Switzerland (LifeSiteNews) — World Economic Forum Co-chair and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has acknowledged that “the elites” have lost public trust.

During his opening remarks at this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Fink said, “For many people, this meeting feels out of step with the moment.”

“We hear all about ‘the elites,’ and how does that play out in the age of populism? How does an established institution make a difference in an era of deep institutional mistrust?” he asked.

At Davos, WEF co-chair and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink openly acknowledges that global “elites” have lost public trust, and now face an uncomfortable reality in an age of populism and “deep institutional mistrust”.

“The world now places far less trust in us to help shape what comes… pic.twitter.com/jV1AcgTLwX

— Wide Awake Media (@wideawake_media) January 20, 2026

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“And there is some truth to the critique,” he continued. “I believed in this Forum for a long time. I certainly would not be leading this if I believed that we can’t change and make the world better.”

“But it’s also obvious that the world now places far less trust in us to help shape what comes next. If the World Economic Forum is going to be useful going forward, it has to regain that trust.”

“Will anyone outside of this room care what we are doing here?” the BlackRock CEO asked.

“We need to make sure that we widen who gets a voice in these conversations over the coming week.”

“We have to be a lot more transparent and engaged with people who don’t feel represented in rooms like this,” he noted.

Fink went on to argue that the main reason people mistrust “the elites” is that the gains in wealth over the past decades have gone only to a small number of people. He said that prosperity “is not just GDP,” but it has to be felt by many people. The wealth created since 1990 in developed nations “has accrued in a far narrower share of people than any healthy society can ultimately sustain,” he stated.

Fink himself has been accused of being a key contributor to the problem of unequal wealth distribution, as he is the co-founder and CEO of BlackRock, the largest asset manager in the world, with approximately $10 trillion in assets under his management.

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