Fidelity pulls $500m from Ken Fisher’s investment group
Clients have pulled $1.8bn in total after controversial comments by Mr Fisher
Fidelity Investments has pulled $500m from Fisher Investments, bringing the total pulled from the investment group to $1.8bn after Ken Fisher made what were considered disparaging remarks about women earlier this month.
Fidelity has terminated the asset manager from managing a portion of its $7.9bn Strategic Advisers Small Mid-Cap Fund, according to a spokesman for the $2.5tn Boston-based fund group. “Assets previously managed by Fisher Investments have been reallocated within the fund,” the spokesman said.
Fidelity is the latest and largest group to dump Fisher Investments after Mr Fisher’s comments. The City of Boston pension pulled $248m, while pension funds representing Michigan, Iowa and Philadelphia have also reportedly pulled assets.*
The sums pulled from Fisher Investments so far represent just a fraction of the $112bn the company managed at the end of June.
Last week, Mr Fisher said through a spokesperson: “Some of the words and phrases I used during a recent conference to make certain points were clearly wrong and I shouldn’t have made them. I realize this kind of language has no place in our company or industry. I sincerely apologize.”
Mr Fisher launched his eponymous investment company in 1979, building it to become a midsized player in the asset management world and sending his personal net worth to $3.9bn, according to Forbes magazine calculations from October 19.