Randall Lane, the chief content officer and top editor of Forbes, left his job last month. He was reportedly dismissed after accepting $6 million from RJ Shook, the founder of Shook Research.
Shook Research has worked with Forbes since 2016 to publish rankings of wealth advisers. The payment was made after Shook sold a majority stake in the company to a private equity firm a year ago.
Lane stated that he viewed the payment as a personal gift for advice given but failed to disclose it. He admitted that he made a mistake and expressed regret for his actions, calling the failure to disclose the gift a serious error in judgment.
In an internal e-mail, the company indicated it could not comment further on the matter.