IShares

iShares are a family of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) managed by BlackRock. The first iShares were known as WEBS but were since rebranded.

Each iShares fund tracks a bond or market index. The following stock exchanges list iShares funds: , , , BATS Exchange, , , Australian Securities Exchange and several European and Asian stock exchanges. iShares is the largest issuer of ETFs in the US and globally.

In 1993, State Street, in cooperation with , had launched Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts (NYSE Arca: SPY) (now the 'SPDR S&P 500'), which were traded in real time and tracked the S&P 500 index. This was the first ETF to trade in the United States, and it continues to trade to this day.

In response, Morgan Stanley launched a series of ETFs called WEBS that tracked its MSCI foreign stock market indices. WEBS, an acronym for World Equity Benchmark Shares, were developed in cooperation with Barclays Global Investors, the fund manager. Unlike the SPDR fund that was a unit investment trust, the underlying vehicle of the WEBS were mutual funds.

In 2000, Barclays put a significant strategic effort behind growing the ETF market, and launched over 40 new funds with an extensive education and marketing effort behind them, branding them iShares. The effort was led by Lee Kranefuss, who worked closely with the inventor of the ETF, Nate Most, who was by that time Chairman of the WEBs Board and an adviser to Barclays on the iShares effort. (Most had retired from the some years earlier and settled in California). WEBS were soon renamed the iShares MSCI Series as part of that program.

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