Does BlackRock Own Both Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems?

On April 18, 2023, Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems settled a highly anticipated defamation lawsuit for $787.5 million. The suit was filed in response to false claims made by Fox News about Dominion’s voting machines — claims that had fueled conspiracy theories about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

Not long after, the claim that both Fox News and Dominion are partially owned by the same entity — BlackRock Investment Group — went viral. An account that, in 2020, pushed many of the same claims that Fox News was sued for promoting in this case was an early source of the claim on April 24, 2023:

Popular conservative Twitter accounts, including pro-Trump actor Kevin Sorbo, re-shared the claim. Possible interpretations for this supposed bombshell discovery were that it was done to hide the truth about the 2020 election being rigged; that BlackRock had it in for Tucker Carlson (whom Fox News fired shortly after the Dominion settlement); that BlackRock was laundering money; or, more broadly, as evidence that BlackRock controls the world. 

The only problem with the claim? BlackRock neither owns nor has any interest in Dominion Voting Systems. The image shown in the viral tweet used to support this false notion shows ownership information for the Virginia-based energy company Dominion Energy (formerly known as Dominion Resources). BlackRock does own a 7.1% stake in the energy company and a 15.1% stake in Fox News corporation. 

This is an entry-level mistake for sowers of false claims about the 2020 presidential election. In December 2020, for example, Snopes debunked the claim that former Attorney General Bill Barr, who had disputed widespread claims of election fraud, was a board member of Dominion, the voting company. In reality, Barr had been a former member of the board for Dominion Energy. 

As we explained in that fact check, claims that Dominion Energy is in any way related to the voting company stem from vague claims that Dominion Voting Systems is one of the energy company’s many subsidiaries. While Dominion Energy does have several subsidiaries, none of them is Dominion Voting Systems.

In a statement emailed to Snopes, a representative for Dominion Voting Systems told us that the voting company is owned by the investment group Staple Street Capital, as well as its employees. On April 26, 2023, BlackRock issued a statement, too, clarifying it had no interest in Dominion Voting Systems:

Because BlackRock has no ownership interest in Dominion Voting Systems, we rate the claim that the voting company and Fox News share an owner as “False.” 

Sources