Ken Fisher, CIO of Fisher Investments, is facing even more backlash from clients, including Fidelity Investments, for his lewd comments at a conference last week.
Fidelity was joined by the Florida pension fund Tuesday in announcing it would review its relationship with Fisher’s firm.
“We are very concerned about the highly inappropriate comments by Kenneth Fisher,” an unnamed spokesperson for Fidelity said in a written statement Tuesday, according to Bloomberg. “We do not tolerate these types of comments at our company and Fidelity Strategic Advisers is reviewing this relationship.”
The dominoes started falling when the State of Michigan Retirement Fund announced it was cutting Fisher Investments off from managing $600 million of its pension fund after the CIO said gaining a client’s trust is like “trying to get into a girl’s pants” while giving a speech at an industry conference last week.
The firm manages around $500 million as a subadviser for Fidelity Strategic Advisers Small-Mid Cap Fund, an arm for Fidelity Strategic Advisers.
And that’s just the start. John Kuczwanski, a spokesman for the Florida State Board of Administration, said its board has also launched an investigation into Fisher’s antics, which just don’t play in today’s #MeToo climate. If it decides to drop the investing guru, it would amount to another $175 million loss.
“SBA policies require our employees and service providers to foster positive business and personal practices designed to ensure that everyone is treated with respect and dignity,” said Kuczwanski.
The Philadelphia Board of Pensions also announced plans to remove its funds that were being held by the firm, totaling $54 million. A spokesperson said the Oct. 10 decision was made to “protect the assets of the fund from the consequences of Mr. Fisher’s inappropriate comments.”
All told, if the Florida pension and Fidelity go through with dropping Fisher it would amount to around $1.15 billion in losses — so far — when combined with the $600 million that the Michigan pension fund has already announced.