Finance · Profile from Finance Research Companion
T. Rowe Price
The Baltimore asset manager founded in 1937 by Thomas Rowe Price Jr., the investor usually called the father of growth-stock investing. For most of its history it was the model of a disciplined, research-driven active manager: no-load funds sold directly to savers, a large share of America's 401(k) plans, and from 2002 one of the biggest target-date fund franchises in the country. Since 2021 it has been the clearest case study of what the shift to passive investing does to a great active firm. Its assets kept rising with markets, from ~$1.69tn at the end of 2021 to ~$1.86tn at September 2026, but clients withdrew money in every year from 2022 to 2025, its fee rate fell, and its share price roughly halved from the 2021 peak. Its responses were private credit (Oak Hill Advisors, 2021), active ETFs (from 2020), and a 2025 alliance with Goldman Sachs to put private markets into retirement products.
At a glance
- Founded
- 1937, Baltimore, by Thomas Rowe Price Jr. as an investment-counsel partnership; incorporated in 1950 when it launched its first mutual fund, the Growth Stock Fund (company history)
- Founders
- Thomas Rowe Price Jr., with early associates including Charles Shaeffer, Walter Kidd, Isabella Craig and Marie Walper (company history; verify list)
- Headquarters
- 1307 Point Street, Harbor Point, Baltimore (moved from 100 East Pratt Street in March 2025)
- Ownership / structure
- Public company (Nasdaq: TROW) since its 1986 IPO; widely held, with significant employee ownership. Goldman Sachs agreed in September 2025 to buy up to $1bn of shares in the open market (~3.5% stake, reported)
- Leadership (2026)
- Rob Sharps, chair, president and CEO (CEO since January 2022; chair since the May 7, 2024 annual meeting); Jen Dardis, CFO; Eric Veiel, head of global investments and CIO (verify titles)
- Segments / products
- Active equity, fixed income and multi-asset mutual funds; collective investment trusts and separate accounts; target-date (Retirement) funds; active ETFs; alternatives through Oak Hill Advisors (OHA); retirement plan recordkeeping; individual investor brokerage and advice
- Scale
- AUM ~$1.78tn at December 31, 2025; ~$1.86tn at September 30, 2026 (company). Target-date assets ~$520bn (June 2025, reported)
- Revenue and profit
- 2025 net revenue ~$7.31bn (+3.1%); adjusted diluted EPS ~$9.72; GAAP diluted EPS ~$9.24 (company, February 4, 2026). Q3 2026 net revenue ~$2.0bn; adjusted EPS $2.86 (company, October 29, 2026)
- Flows
- Net client outflows of ~$61.7bn (2022), ~$81.8bn (2023), ~$43.2bn (2024), ~$56.9bn (2025) and ~$28.3bn in Q3 2026 alone (company)
- Capital / regulatory status
- SEC-registered investment adviser and fund sponsor; FINRA-registered broker-dealer for its distribution and brokerage arms; a federal savings bank trust company for collective trusts (verify current charter); no long-term debt for most of its history
9 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1937
Founding and the Growth Stock Theory
Founding
1960
New Horizons New Era and the Founders Exit
Launch / restructuring (ownership transfer)
1986
IPO and Retirement Plan Services
IPO / launch (retirement plan business)
2002
Retirement Target Date Funds
Launch
2016
Dell Proxy Vote Error
Failure / regulatory-style settlement (voluntary client compensation)
2020
Active ETF Entry
Launch
2021
Oak Hill Advisors Acquisition
Acquisition
2022
Growth Bear Market and Active Outflows
Failure (structural decline in the core business) and restructuring response
2025
Goldman Sachs Partnership and Private Markets for Retirement
Partnership (strategic collaboration with minority equity stake)