Forbes fires chief content officer Randall Lane over $6M payment
I talked to this person years ago about a job writing about the ultra wealthy and he told me I was a bad fit because I was obviously going to make jokes about them. I remember this, to be honest, because the hat was present then too www.nytimes.com/2026/08/12/b...
Anna Merlan 523In hindsight possibly the hat was a tell
RI Smith154It's illegal to comment on the hat
Dan Murphy45Never trust a man in that hat. Never trust someone whose title is "chief content officer." Never trust a publication that hands out titles like "chief content officer."
Tobias Carroll36All I can think of when I see the hat is...
Kwertzy Industries18you know that hat smells awful too
Peoria Bummer15The burden is on anyone wearing that hat to prove that they’re not a douchebag.
Katelyn Burns145If anyone wants to give me $6 million, I will buy an even stupider hat.
tommy salami16OK but he has six million so who really won out
Alasdair Stuart15Every single journalist you know has written for free because it was the only way to get a piece in the air 'because there's no budget.' Tarquin Chinless Panama III here of the Martha's Vineyard Panamas should never be allowed near anything with a masthead, a byline, a zipper or a mirror again.
Euan Thomson15Right? These assholes are all looking after one another. Protecting: hiring, firing, attacking, defending, squeezing, permitting, looking the other way.
Felipe De La Hoz12Now that this story has reignited Hat Discourse, I feel compelled to say that you can absolutely make a hat work for you, as long as you a) generally go for a wider brim, and b) have enough visual interest in the rest of the outfit to not have the hat really stand out
Kris Wernowsky12Is this the guy who killed the horse in Half-Baked?
Eileen Clancy 🧿9He looks like my Uncle John who always wore his hat in the car while driving and religiously kept in the right lane on highways, crawling along while outraged motorists honked and roared past him.
Steven Santos8Considering how much of current news sites and magazines read like the reporting of the grievances of rich people, you have to wonder how widespread this kind of bribery is right now.
Goldstein6Boy howdy, it must be nice to live the sort of life where you just receive $6m gifts.
Joe Flynn5lmao I warned y'all about the hat
i don't know who needs to hear this, but the guy behind the Forbes 30 under 30 -- renowned for its winners' tendency to commit crimes and graft -- has been fired by Forbes for accepting an extremely sketchy $6 million payment www.nytimes.com/2026/08/12/b...
jon christian28how could i forget about the Kanye West Incident
PPK, the Kwisatz Haskellach, Monad'Dib5my browser decided to add the linebreak between "$6" and "million" and I could've believed that the forbes 30 under 30 list has such a bad reputation that him getting $6 from a dubious source would be news worthy
Hector Rodriguez5That hat should've been a giveaway for the shadyness
Dr. Acula, M. D.4They also found out about the dice in his pocket that he’s afraid to show anyone.
Bill Stewart2If you've got a spare $6m to get yourself onto Forbes's list, either you really have made good, or more likely you inherited money. (When I was 30, I did not have a spare $6m, much less a billion dollars like those guys Bill and Steve who'd recently turned 30.) (Couple friends were on it one year.)
cr1sp_sandw1ch1I’d have done it for an extremely sketchy $5 million payment.
Antony Johnston9Just want to be totally clear that I am one hundred per cent open to extremely sketchy payments of $6 million or more, DMs are open and financial advisors are standing by
Emmeline7I will put you in my Hot List of Super Awesome People for $6 million. Inquire within
Hoover Street Rag6The only Shook Research I want to hear from is @katieshook.bsky.social on advances in Pop Tarts Bowl technology.
HudsonRiverCroc6Lol, his only mistake is that he did not open a foreign account to get the payment, or in bitcoin. Plenty of his colleagues get paid often.
Aaron Blackshear4I never made any of these lists but I have a year and a half to make the 50 under 50 for something
David Olsen3Should have been fired for fashion crimes.
Some general assignment reporter at a small paper is working a second job to feed his family while this ex-Forbes guy is taking a secret $6 million payment and making the entire journalism profession look bad.
Andrew Scott Waugh10Seriously. You can’t wear a hat like that unless you’re going meet Julie Andrew’s at the State Fair.
Zach Everson9Some reporters at Forbes are working that second job.
John Elliott4And he purchased that hat.
RubinRubin 🌈3REGULAR AND RESPECTED GUEST OF JOE SCARBOROUGH @morningjoe-msnow.bsky.social
Patricia3At least Forbes fired him. Now if they would replace him with someone with ethics it would help.
ingemarknows.bsky.social1Pretty sure the main paper in my rather large city, only has about 40 total employees left and they are doing the jobs of 4 or 5 people each.
“The top editor of Forbes was fired last month after the company discovered that he had received a payment of about $6 million from the founder of a firm that does business with the magazine, according to three people familiar with the decision.” www.nytimes.com/2026/08/12/b...
Back to Colorado Pony (and 🦄 E’s)5Someone might still have some ethics!
Arion Xeno1He should appeal to the President. Trump will simply see it as reasonable monetisation of one’s position. Getting ahead when you can.
Jill, MA Leguminati 🫘 ✍️1Nice that Forbes has conflict of interest ethics policies. Wish they could do SCOTUS and the others in Congress/Trump admin.
mpmrfee1So how do you take accountability and not return the $6 million. True accountability requires returning ill-gotten gains and termination. Otherwise what’s the lesson? Crime still pays.
John Novio1Fired so he's retired now or is he now "looking or working" for another magazine and firm ?
AtlantaMann1If he is allowed to keep that $6 Million, then he really doesn't need that job at Forbes. Nice work, if you can get it.
If you gave me a $6 million bribe I'd wear a better hat I can tell you that much www.nytimes.com/2026/08/12/b...
Andrew Panariello3That’s definitely a Bowl of Soup hat.
Jeff Golick2Clearly purchased before the bribe. That’s why he need the six mil.
Melon Farmer2This guy looks like Alex Horne from Taskmaster doing a bit.
kyle pellét2Loving the way it cuts off here because it makes it seem like he lost his job because he took a bribe too small to buy a Big Mac.
pumpernickel bear1how much would someone have to pay you to wear that hat?
many, if not most, journalists i know have turned down a literal cup of coffee from a source. even assuming that the cup of coffee was $10, this is SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND TIMES that and he called not thinking to report it to the company "a mistake."
Aaron Huertas18Besides what I'm sure is a copious hat budget, the article says this other guy's interests are horse racing and staging musicals, so it's hard to see how anyone got suspicious.
Carrie Brown5OMG SIX MILLION DOLLARS. I could use this as an ethics case study in class next semester but I mean it's almost too obvious, students will just be like...um are you even serious
Randall Lane, Forbes Chief Content Officer, was fired last month after the company discovered that he had received a payment of about $6 million from Shook Research, which has teamed up with Forbes since 2016 to publish rankings of wealth advisers. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/12/b...
He thought it was a gift. As one does. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/12/b...
Daniel Fienberg 22Here's the thing... I've done the math and I think I've reached the point in my life at which I'm absolutely willing to be fired in disgrace for $6 million. Also… a toast to the literally five people on earth who remember POV Magazine. No. You don't. You're thinking of something else. Trust me.
Jeremy Smith3Man, give me $6 million, and I'll give talented young filmmakers the opportunity to make oddball movies. Pitch me. I'll listen to you, and we'll do something special.
Ryan O’Connell2Based on this picture, I have to think it was taken at the moment he was informed of his termination
