Topline
Billionaire Ken Griffin’s hedge fund Citadel suggested it may review plans for a $6 billion expansion in New York City after Mayor Zohran Mamdani filmed a video announcing a new tax on second homes in the city in front of Griffin’s townhouse last week.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani mentioned Citadel CEO Ken Griffin by name while announcing a new tax on expensive second homes in New York City for non-residents.
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
An internal email sent from Citadel chief operating officer Gerald Beeson — and first reported by the Wall Street Journal — responded to Mamdani’s video, in which the mayor called for the city’s first-ever pied-a-terre tax, an annual fee for people who own second homes in the city worth more than $5 million.
In the memo viewed by Forbes, Beeson said it was clear Mamdani thought out-of-state homeowners “do not contribute enough to the greater good,” and said invoking Griffin’s name was “shameful.”
Beeson said Miami-headquartered Citadel’s planned expansion in Midtown would lead to 6,000 construction jobs and over 15,000 permanent jobs, but couched that with the caveat “if we move forward.”
Beeson also insisted Citadel employees have paid $2.3 billion in taxes in New York over the last five years, and Griffin himself has given $650 million to charities in the Empire State.
However, Beeson also acknowledged that Citadel had more than 2,500 “colleagues” in New York, and even if they were political targets they would “continue to help New York City thrive for decades ahead.”
Key Background
Mamdani posted the video on Tax Day, April 15. “When I ran for mayor, I said I was going to tax the rich. Well, today we’re taxing the rich,” the mayor said in a slick video posted across social media, which also drew the ire of famous New York City luxury apartment developer and current President Donald Trump. Mamdani and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who also supports the tax, claim it could generate up to $500 million annual revenue for the city. Mamdani said the tax was designed to target the “richest of the rich. Those who store their wealth in New York City, but don’t actually live here.” Neither Mamdani nor Hochul’s office responded to requests for comment from Forbes concerning the Citadel memo.
Forbes Valuation
We value Ken Griffin’s net worth at $50.7 billion as of Thursday afternoon, making him the 36th wealthiest person in the world. Griffin made his fortune through his hedge fund Citadel, where he serves as CEO, which he founded in 1990. Citadel is one of the largest hedge funds in the world, and Forbes named Griffin the world’s wealthiest hedge fund manager last year.
Big Number
$238 million. That’s how much Griffin paid for his penthouse in 2019 at 220 Central Park South, a high rise on Manhattan’s billionaire’s row. Griffin’s purchase is still the highest price ever paid for a home in the United States. Mamdani shot his announcement outside of Griffin’s penthouse and called the billionaire, who lives in Miami, out by name.