For the first time, Ariel is moving into exchange-traded funds, which have been squeezing fee income collected by traditional money managers like Ariel. Ariel also recently disclosed novel plans to make direct investments in other companies under a program designed to create minority-owned firms and expand others. And a new office in San Francisco, its third, aims to corral tech and other West Coast wealth.
Hobson s expanding influence marks a turning point for Ariel, a leading Black-owned firm in Chicago. Founded by Rogers in 1983, it s also one of the city s few significant mutual fund companies. They ve tossed around the term Ariel 2.0, Morningstar analyst Adam Sabban says of the thrust.