On November 8th, according to the Financial Times, citing people familiar with the matter, BlackRock is in preliminary discussions with Millennium Management on a strategic partnership that could see the world's largest asset manager acquire a stake in the most profitable hedge fund manager. People familiar with the matter said the talks were still at an early stage and a deal was unlikely to be reached. If BlackRock does eventually acquire a stake in Millennium, it would be the first time in 35 years that Englander has accepted outside investment into Millennium's management company. Both BlackRock and Millennium declined to comment.