This is truly a wild analysis. It’s entirely plausible that Black rock owns the longs and Citadel owns the shorts and that they collaborate. But just the circular ownership leading to total dominance of the market by a few hundred people is enough to make this worth reading.
On your note about conspiracy theories… Yeah while it’s tempting to think that these large venture capital firms are an evil cabal of string pullers that manage every facet of the economy because they “own” everything, the reality is a lot more “boring” for lack of a better term.
Because they have ownership in everything and are seeking to maximize profit, all they really do is impose pressure on their portfolio companies. They’re likely not directly managing and ordering all the corner-cutting, labor abuse, and other evil shit these companies do. It’s the whole system that incentives profit above all else that has led us here, not one particular club of devils.
Speaking as someone with some friends in the finance world, some would be shocked to know just how ignorant these venture capitalists are of the wrongdoings the companies they own are responsible for. Of course, I’m sure there’s some level of truth to conspiracies impacting markets, but otherwise these capitalists are just buying companies, plugging their eyes and ears, and doing a whole lot of nothing while they wait for returns.
I’m not speaking of Blackrock specifically, just in general about the whole venture capital system.