by = from

[Baker, John]

Actually, BlackRock (specifically, BlackRock Fund Advisors, a subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc.) is the investment adviser to the iShares family of exchange-traded funds, so when the ad says "By BlackRock" it really means "Managed by BlackRock," not "From BlackRock."

It's true that another BlackRock entity (BlackRock Investments, LLC) serves as the distributor to iShares, but this is irrelevant for two reasons.  First, investors that are not large broker-dealers buy their iShares shares on the open market, not through the distributor, so they aren't really acquired "from BlackRock."  Second, nobody gives a damn who the distributor of an exchange-traded fund is.


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2012 8:57 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: by = from

So far restricted to ads. I hope:

"iShares. By Black Rock."

JL

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org