The Fidelity team aren't the only ones feeling a difference after Ned Johnson pulled back.

Edward Johnson, III Fidelity Chairman

The New York Business Journal and Bloomberg both report that auction giant Christie's is partially blaming poor performance at a big auction on Johnson's absence. Christie's just held a six-day art auction in Hong Kong and sold $335 million worth of art, 16 percent below the firm's prior estimate.

Though Ned Johnson and his daughter and successor, Abby Johnson, tend to be pretty media shy, their art patronage has made headlines before. Two years ago Ned reportedly bought an 18th century British altarpiece for $2.85 million, and this past summer his hometown paper quoted an unnamed "well-informed Boston art collector" as calling Ned "the most influential person at the MFA [in Boston], hands down." At the time, the paper reported that Johnson's Brookfield Arts Foundation had assets of $262 million in 2013. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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