The Vanguard Group, Inc.
Asset Management and Investment ServicesFounded 1974- Updated July 2025
Reviewed by Swet Parvadiya
Last reviewed: July 2025
CorpDigest
The Vanguard Group, Inc.
Financial Performance
Last reviewed: July 2025 · By Swet Parvadiya
Revenue
$9.2B
Market Cap
$27.6B
Employees
20,000
Vanguard's $9.2 billion in fiscal 2024 revenue, up from $7.8 billion in fiscal 2022, $8.5 billion in fiscal 2023, and $8.1 billion in fiscal 2021, reflects the mechanical relationship between assets under management and fee revenue. As markets rise and new assets flow in, fee revenue rises. The 7-basis-point average expense ratio applied to $9.3 trillion in AUM produces approximately $6.5 billion in revenue from fund fees alone, with additional revenue from advisory services, institutional programs, and Vanguard Brokerage operations. The zero net income is not incidental — it is the purpose of the structure. Vanguard reduces fees until revenue equals expenses. Any excess operating efficiency is passed back to investors through lower expense ratios rather than accumulated as profit. The compounding effect of this structure on long-term investor returns is substantial: a 0.07% expense ratio versus an industry average of 0.5% or higher means investors in Vanguard funds retain an additional 0.43 percentage points annually, which over 30 years compounds into a material difference in retirement account balances. The $9.3 trillion in AUM makes Vanguard the second-largest asset manager globally, behind BlackRock. The scale creates the cost structure that enables the low fees that attract the assets that maintain the scale — a self-reinforcing dynamic that has operated for fifty years and shows no sign of reversing. Every dollar of new assets reduces average cost per dollar of assets managed, which allows another fee reduction, which attracts more assets. The 20,000 employees managing $9.3 trillion produce approximately $465 million in AUM per employee — a productivity metric that reflects the leverage inherent in asset management when the core product is a passively managed index fund requiring minimal active decision-making. The competitive risk is technology disruption from digital advisors like Betterment and Wealthfront who offer lower-friction digital experiences, and from direct indexing platforms that allow wealthy investors to own the individual securities in an index rather than a fund share, potentially bypassing fund structures entirely.
Revenue Trend Analysis
YoY Change
+8.2%
4-Year CAGR
+6.3%
Peak Year
2024
Trend
Consistent Growth
The Vanguard Group, Inc. has reported revenue across 5 fiscal years, compounding at +6.3% annually over 4 years. The most recent year saw a 8.2% increase versus the prior year. Revenue peaked in 2024 at $9.2B. Out of 4 reported periods, 3 showed growth and 1 showed a decline.
| Fiscal Year | Revenue | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|
| FY2024 | $9.2B | +8.2% |
| FY2023 | $8.5B | +9.0% |
| FY2022 | $7.8B | -3.7% |
| FY2021 | $8.1B | +12.5% |
| FY2020 | $7.2B | — |
Source: SEC EDGAR filings, annual earnings releases, and verified financial disclosures.
Click any row to see year details.
Vanguard reported approximately $9.3 trillion in global assets under management at year-end 2024, making it the second-largest asset manager in the world behind BlackRock at approximately $11.5 trillion. The figure includes US-registered mutual funds and ETFs, non-US registered funds across Europe, Canada, Australia, and Asia, separately managed accounts, and assets advised through Personal Advisor Services. Index strategies represent the majority of assets, with the Vanguard 500 Index Fund family at approximately $1.4 trillion and the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund family at approximately $1.7 trillion being the two largest. Target-date funds held more than $1.6 trillion across the Vanguard Target Retirement Fund series, dominating workplace retirement default investment options. Active strategies, primarily managed by Wellington Management, PRIMECAP, and a handful of external subadvisors, contribute the balance. Net inflows in 2024 totaled hundreds of billions of dollars, continuing a streak of consecutive years of strong net inflows that has driven the firm's growth even faster than market appreciation.
Vanguard's asset-weighted average expense ratio across its funds is approximately 0.07 percent in 2024, compared with an industry average closer to 0.36 percent for mutual funds and ETFs. The expense ratio of the Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares is 0.04 percent, the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF charges 0.03 percent, and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF charges 0.03 percent. Bond ETFs and mutual funds typically charge between 0.03 percent and 0.10 percent. Vanguard has reduced expense ratios more than a thousand times since the company was founded, returning operational surplus to fund shareholders rather than retaining profit margin. Competitive pressure from BlackRock iShares, State Street SPDR, and Schwab has compressed expense ratios across the broader industry, with some BlackRock and Schwab core ETFs now matching Vanguard at 0.03 percent or undercutting at lower levels. The price war has primarily benefited end investors, who collectively pay tens of billions of dollars less per year in fund fees than would have been the case in the absence of the indexing and Vanguard-driven cost competition.
Vanguard does not publicly disclose detailed financial statements because it is privately owned by its funds rather than by outside shareholders. Industry estimates from research firms and trade press place Vanguard revenue at approximately $9 to $10 billion annually in recent years, derived primarily from management and administrative fees collected from the funds it operates. The figure has grown roughly in line with assets under management, although per-dollar revenue has declined as expense ratios have fallen. Vanguard publishes selected operational disclosures including total assets under management, fund-level expense ratios, and aggregate inflows in periodic press releases and on its website. The annual reports of the Vanguard funds themselves, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, disclose the management fees each fund pays to Vanguard and constitute the most detailed public source on Vanguard's revenue. Vanguard's chief executive provides selective public commentary on operating performance through interviews and conference appearances but the company does not host quarterly earnings calls or issue investor presentations.
Industry analysts have periodically estimated what Vanguard would be worth if it were owned by outside shareholders rather than by its funds. A common methodology applies the operating margins and price-to-revenue multiples of comparable asset managers like BlackRock, T. Rowe Price, and Franklin Resources to Vanguard's estimated revenue of approximately $9 to $10 billion. BlackRock operating margins of approximately 40 percent applied to similar revenue and a 5 to 8 times revenue multiple would imply a hypothetical Vanguard market value of $50 to $80 billion. Some estimates run higher because Vanguard's index franchise and brand strength might command premium multiples. The fact that this implied profit does not flow to outside shareholders is the essence of the mutual ownership structure. Fund shareholders capture the benefit through lower expense ratios, which BlackRock founder Larry Fink has at times described as a competitive subsidy that distorts industry pricing. Bogle and Vanguard leadership have consistently defended the structure as legal, fair, and beneficial to long-term investor outcomes.
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CorpDigest. "The Vanguard Group, Inc. Revenue & Financials." CorpDigest, https://corpdigest.com/company/vanguard/financials.<div style="font-family:system-ui,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;border:1px solid #e2e8f0;border-radius:8px;padding:12px 16px;max-width:520px"><strong>The Vanguard Group, Inc. reported $9B in revenue (FY2024).</strong><br>Source: <a href="https://corpdigest.com/company/vanguard/financials" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CorpDigest — The Vanguard Group, Inc. financials</a></div>