- Billionaire money manager Ken Fisher has lost close to $1.8 billion in client funds after making sexist comments at a recent conference, according to CNBC.
- Asset manager Fidelity has withdrawn $500 million from Fisher Investments, CNBC reported.
- Fisher has been under fire since he reportedly talked about genitalia on stage and compared working to win clients to "trying to get into a girl's pants."
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Things are getting worse for Ken Fisher.
The billionaire money manager made a series of sexist comments at a conference in San Francisco on October 8, prompting several clients to pull funds from Fisher Investments. Asset manager Fidelity has joined the exodus, meaning total withdrawals are nearing $1.8 billion, according to CNBC.
"Fisher Investments does not provide investment advisory services for any portion of the assets of Strategic Advisers Small-Mid Cap Fund," Vin Loporchio, a spokesman for Fidelity, told CNBC. "Assets previously managed by Fisher Investments have been reallocated within the fund."
Fisher has been under fire since he reportedly talked about genitalia on stage and compared working to win clients to "trying to get into a girl's pants."
CNBC also obtained more audio recordings from the conference in question. "Money, sex, those are the two most private things for most people," so when trying to win new clients you need to be careful, Fisher said.
"It's like going up to a girl in a bar...going up to a woman in a bar and saying, hey, I want to talk about what's in your pants."
The $1.8 billion outflow is still a relatively small loss for Fisher Investments, as the money manager oversaw $112 billion as of the end of last month, according to CNBC. However, the fear is that other clients may follow Fidelity's example.
The City of Boston pulled out of Fisher investments last week over his comments as Mayor Marty Walsh said that "Boston will not invest in companies led by people who treat women like commodities."
Fisher told Markets Insider in an email last week: "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," he added. "I sincerely apologize."
Ken Fisher did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
