Forbes said on Tuesday that it would suspend the rankings and events it produced with Shook Research, a major partner, as it dealt with the widening fallout from a $6 million payment from that firm’s founder to the publication’s top editor.
Forbes and Shook Research have worked together for years to publish rankings of the top wealth advisers in the United States. They have also produced an annual summit in Las Vegas, which was scheduled this year for mid-October and in the past drew executives from top financial firms, including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, BlackRock and Apollo.
The New York Times reported this month that Forbes’s top editor, Randall Lane, had been fired after the publication learned that he had taken a $6 million payment from RJ Shook, the founder of Shook Research. Mr. Shook said on Monday that he had paid Mr. Lane for services that included helping to sell a controlling stake in Shook Research to a private equity firm, PPC Enterprises, last August.
Mr. Lane has described the payment as a “gift” and said that failing to disclose it to Forbes was a “serious error in judgment.” Mr. Shook left Shook Research sometime after the sale.
Sherry Phillips, the chief executive of Forbes, said in a memo to employees on Tuesday that the suspension of the magazine’s activities with Shook would last through the end of the year.
“We remain confident in the integrity of the rankings, but we recognize that there is a need to restore trust with the adviser community, partners and audiences,” Ms. Phillips said in a statement. “Our focus is now on strengthening our program for the road ahead, and to meet the standard our readers and the adviser community expect and deserve.”
Ms. Phillips also said in her statement that Forbes was “exploring all appropriate actions” to hold Mr. Lane “to full account.” On Monday, she told staff that it had hired counsel to conduct an independent review of the matter.
Shook Research sent financial firms a joint message with Forbes on Tuesday explaining the decision to suspend its rankings, saying it was “the right next step, both for the strength of our research going forward and for the value our listings and events provide.”
A spokeswoman for Mr. Lane had no comment.
The disclosure of the payment to Mr. Lane has spooked some prominent financial firms. In the last week, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and Wells Fargo Advisors have informed their clients that they suspended participation in the lists of financial professionals that Forbes publishes using rankings from Shook Research.
The rankings make money for Shook Research and Forbes. Though wealth advisers cannot buy their way onto the lists, those who make the cut can buy plaques, logos and other markers commemorating their inclusion, sometimes for thousands of dollars. Shook Research splits the money with Forbes and highlights its affiliation with the magazine on its website.
On Monday, Shook Research said it was commissioning an independent review of the company’s governance and creating a new “independence charter” to reaffirm that its rankings cannot be purchased. Both Forbes and Shook Research have said Mr. Lane was not involved in deciding which wealth advisers made the companies’ lists.
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