Fisher Investments Inc. serves as subadviser for several institutions that have also taken notice of founder Kenneth L. Fisher's comments, with at least two terminating the firm.
Fidelity Investments terminated the money manager on Oct. 21 as a subadviser running $500 million in active U.S. small-cap equities.
The move was in response to the sexist comments made by Mr. Fisher, said Vincent Loporchio, a Fidelity spokesman, in an email.
"Fisher Investments no longer provides investment advisory services for any portion of the assets of Strategic Advisers Small-Mid Cap Fund, a fund available only within Fidelity managed accounts," Mr. Loporchio said, adding, "We will leverage existing managers with larger mandates while we consider adding new outside managers."
Goldman Sachs Asset Management is in the process of dropping Fisher as a subadviser for its $598 million GS Multi-Manager Global Equity Fund, which has multiple subadvisers, a Goldman spokesman confirmed.
"Mr. Fisher's comments were a factor in this decision," the spokesman said. He declined to confirm what portion of the fund Fisher manages.
Fisher's termination will be effective Oct. 31, according to a fund filing dated Oct. 25.
Fisher also subadvises a C$107 million ($81 million) emerging markets equity investment and a C$61 million global small-cap equity investment for SSQ Insurance Co. Inc., a Canadian firm that has C$12 billion in assets under management, June 30 fund documents published on the firm's website show.
A spokeswoman for SSQ Insurance said in an email that the firm "is currently analyzing the situation regarding Fisher and does not wish to comment any further."
A spokesman for Swiss insurance company Zurich Insurance Group Ltd., another Fisher subadvisory client, said in an email: "The comments are unacceptable and we have made this clear to Fisher Investments. We have taken note of Ken Fisher's apology for his inappropriate choice of words and expect that such behavior will not be repeated."
Fisher Investments is one of the subadvisers for a U.S. active equity fund and emerging markets active equity fund which, respectively, have 1.1 billion Swiss francs ($1.1 billion) and 750 million Swiss francs in assets, according to the spokesman.
The spokesman declined to comment on what portion of the fund Fisher manages or whether the firm was placed on watch or terminated. "As a matter of principle we don't comment on specific details of the relationship with our subadvisers," the spokesman wrote.
