BlackRock Appoints Kenneth B. Dunn, Ph.D. to Board of Directors; Declares Quarterly Dividend of 30 Cents on Common Stock.

NEW YORK -- BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) today announced the appointment of Kenneth B. Dunn, Ph.D. to its Board of Directors. The addition of Mr. Dunn brings the total number of directors to thirteen, seven of whom are not affiliated with the Company. Mr. Dunn will also serve as a member of BlackRock's Audit Committee.

"I look forward to working with Ken as a member of our Board of Directors." commented Laurence D. Fink, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BlackRock. "Ken brings a broad business perspective, as well as experience in our industry, which will be valuable in guiding the continued growth of BlackRock's platform."

Mr. Dunn is currently Dean and Professor of Financial Economics at the David A. Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to his positions at Carnegie Mellon University, Mr. Dunn was a managing director of Morgan Stanley Investment Management and co-director of the U.S. Core Fixed Income and Mortgage Teams. Mr. Dunn also managed the fixed-income trading, technology and insurance groups within the asset management division of Miller Anderson & Sherrerd and he continued in those roles when the firm was acquired by Morgan Stanley in 1996. Mr. Dunn received B.S. and M.B.A. degrees from The Ohio State University and a Ph.D. from Purdue University.

Quarterly Dividend

The Company also announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.30 per share of common stock, payable September 22, 2005 to shareholders of record at the close of business on September 2, 2005.

About BlackRock

BlackRock is one of the largest publicly traded investment management firms in the United States with approximately $414.4 billion of assets under management at June 30, 2005. BlackRock manages assets on behalf of institutional and individual investors worldwide through a variety of equity, fixed income, liquidity and alternative investment products. In addition, BlackRock provides risk management, investment system outsourcing and financial advisory services to a growing number of institutional investors. Clients are served from the Company's headquarters in New York City, as well as offices in Boston, Edinburgh, Hong Kong, Morristown, San Francisco, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Wilmington. BlackRock is majority owned by The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC) and by BlackRock employees. For additional information, please visit the Company's website at www.blackrock.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release, and other statements that BlackRock may make, may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, with respect to BlackRock's future financial or business performance, strategies or expectations. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words or phrases such as "trend," "potential," "opportunity," "pipeline," "believe," "comfortable," "expect," "anticipate," "current," "intention," "estimate," "position," "assume," "outlook," "continue," "remain," "maintain," "sustain," "seek," "achieve," and similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "would," "should," "could," "may" or similar expressions. The information contained on our website is not a part of this press release.

BlackRock cautions that forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and BlackRock assumes no duty to and does not undertake to update forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements and future results could differ materially from historical performance.

In addition to factors previously disclosed in BlackRock's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports and those identified elsewhere in this press release, the following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking statements or historical performance: (1) the introduction, withdrawal, success and timing of business initiatives and strategies; (2) changes in political, economic or industry conditions, the interest rate environment or financial and capital markets, which could result in changes in demand for products or services or in the value of assets under management; (3) the relative and absolute investment performance of BlackRock's advised or sponsored investment products and separately managed accounts; (4) the impact of increased competition; (5) the impact of capital improvement projects; (6) the impact of future acquisitions or divestitures; (7) the unfavorable resolution of legal proceedings; (8) the extent and timing of any share repurchases; (9) the impact, extent and timing of technological changes and the adequacy of intellectual property protection; (10) the impact of legislative and regulatory actions and reforms and regulatory, supervisory or enforcement actions of government agencies relating to BlackRock or PNC; (11) terrorist activities and international hostilities, which may adversely affect the general economy, financial and capital markets, specific industries, and BlackRock; (12) the ability to attract and retain highly talented professionals; (13) fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, which may adversely affect the value of advisory fees earned by BlackRock; (14) the impact of changes to tax legislation and, generally, the tax position of the Company; and (15) the integration of the business of SSR into the business of BlackRock.

BlackRock's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004 and BlackRock's subsequent reports filed with the SEC, accessible on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov and on BlackRock's website at http://www.blackrock.com, discuss these factors in more detail and identify additional factors that can affect forward-looking statements.