Inside Vanguard: Leadership Secrets From the Company That Continues to Rewrite the Rules of the Investing Business

CAHPTER 14

Capital Power

Nothing begins at the beginning. The before, and the before the before, and the before the before the before—all are part of the “beginning.” And so it was in 2009 when a major new direction for Vanguard took shape. Barclays Bank decided to sell all or part of its investment arm, Barclays Global Investors, and BlackRock decided to buy BGI for $13.5 billion. Vanguard astounded industry observers with a multibillion-dollar cash offer for just the ETF part of BGI, leaving BGI’s index mutual funds with Barclays PLC.

Vanguard was not entirely new to acquisitions. A few years earlier, it had briefly considered acquiring TIAA-CREF, the enormous retirement fund for college and university faculty and staff. Both organizations ...