Move over, Elizabeth Holmes, Sam Bankman-Fried and Adam Neumann: After years of inadvertently boasting some of the tech world’s greatest a-holes on their cover right before their respective downfalls, the Forbes curse has struck again, this time, hitting the financial news giant right in the (possibly) impending banking crisis.


Last month, the financial news giant released their annual list of America’s Best Banks, a ranking that predominantly featured the now-defunct SVB Financial Group’s Silicon Valley Bank *and* Signature Bank.


Great work, Forbes!


Respectively placing 20th and 74th on the 100-bank ranking, SVB’s social media overlords even took to Twitter to celebrate this in hindsight, *very* poorly timed superlative.  


“Proud to be on @Forbes’ annual ranking of America’s Best Banks for the 5th straight year and to have also been named to the publication’s inaugural Financial All-Stars list,” read a post shared to the bank’s since-deleted profile.



Amid the ranking’s new viral attention — one lampooned by FinMemers across the now very-red board — Forbes owned up to their error, taking care to clarify that the ranking was penned long before the phrase “Jeff Jackson’s TikTok” was even a glimmer in Wall Street’s eye. 


“After this list was published on February 16, 2023, SVB Financial Group’s Silicon Valley Bank collapsed and was placed under FDIC control on March 10 due to a bank run prompted by fears about its interest rate exposure,” reads a new editor’s note appearing above the ranking.


“Regulators also closed New York-based Signature Bank on March 12,” the note concluded.


Now that we have a name for Forbes' poor choice of cover stories, the one question everyone is asking is, can you short a magazine?