Kenneth C. Griffin
Kenneth Cordele Griffin (born October 15, 1968) is an American hedge fund manager, entrepreneur and investor. He is the founder, chief executive officer, co-chief investment officer, and 80% owner of Citadel LLC,[1][2] a multinational hedge fund. He also owns Citadel Securities, one of the largest market makers in the United States.[3]
For the organist, see Kenneth W. Griffin.
Ken Griffin
Hedge fund manager
Entrepreneur
Investor
1990–present
Founder of Citadel LLC and Citadel Securities
CEO and co-CIO, Citadel LLC
3
As of April 2023, Griffin had an estimated net worth of $35 billion, making him the 38th-richest person in the world. He was ranked 21st on the 2022 Forbes 400 list of richest Americans.[4] He was included in Forbes's 2023 list of the United States' Most Generous Givers, according to which he has donated $1.56 billion to various charitable causes, primarily in education, economic mobility and medical research.[5]
Griffin has contributed tens of millions of dollars to political candidates and causes, usually Republican or conservative in ideology.
Early life and education
Griffin was born in 1968 in Daytona Beach, Florida, the son of a building supplies executive.[6] His father had various jobs, and was a project manager for General Electric.[7] Griffin's grandmother, Genevieve Huebsch Gratz, inherited an oil business, three farms, and a seed business.[8]
Griffin grew up in Boca Raton, Florida, with some time in Texas, and Wisconsin.[9] He went to middle school in Boca Raton[7] and Boca Raton Community High School, where he was the president of the math club.[9][10] In high school, Griffin ran a discount mail-order education software firm, EDCOM, out of his bedroom.[10] In a 1986 article in the Sun-Sentinel, he said he thought he would become a businessman or lawyer and that he believed the job market for computer programmers would significantly decrease over the coming decade.[10]
Griffin started at Harvard College in the fall of 1986.[9] That year, one of his first investments was to buy put options on Home Shopping Network, making a $5,000 profit.[11] He also invested in convertible arbitrage opportunities in convertible bonds.[9] Despite a ban on running businesses from campus, Griffin convinced school administrators to allow him to install a satellite dish on the roof of Cabot House, a dormitory, to receive stock quotes.[11][9] He also asked Terrence J. O'Connor, the manager of convertible bonds at Merrill Lynch in Boston, to open a brokerage account for him with $100,000 that Griffin had gotten from his grandmother, his dentist, and others.[7][9] His first fund launched in 1987 with $265,000, days after his 19th birthday.[9] The fund launched in time to profit from short positions on Black Monday.[9] Griffin graduated in 1989 with a degree in economics.[12]
Career
After graduating in 1989, Griffin moved to Chicago to work with Frank Meyer, founder of Glenwood Capital Investments.[13][14] Meyer allotted $1 million of Glenwood capital for Griffin to trade[14] and Griffin made 70% in a year.[9]
In 1990, Griffin founded Citadel LLC, with assets under management of $4.6 million, aided by contributions from Meyer.[14] His funds made 43% in 1991 and 40% in 1992.[11]
In the early 2000s, Griffin founded market maker Citadel Securities.[15][16]
In 2003, aged 34, Griffin was the youngest person on the Forbes 400, with an estimated net worth of $650 million.[17]
From the time of his second marriage to Anne Dias in 2003 until late 2009, Griffin was the lead investor in Aragon Global Management, a hedge fund run by his then wife. The fund was also seeded with money from Julian Robertson. Griffin lost 20% of his investment in the fund.[18]
In 2006, Citadel acquired the positions of Amaranth Advisors at a steep discount.[9]
During the financial crisis of 2007-2008, for 10 months, Griffin barred his investors from withdrawing money, attracting criticism.[2][19] At the crisis's peak, the firm was losing "hundreds of millions of dollars each week".[20] It was leveraged 7:1 and the biggest funds at Citadel finished 2008 down 55%, but rebounded with a 62% return in 2009.[9]
From Citadel LLC, Griffin earned $900 million in 2009,[21] $1.4 billion in 2014,[22] $600 million in 2016,[23] $1.4 billion in 2017,[24][25] $870 million in 2018,[26] $1.5 billion in 2019,[27] and $1.8 billion in 2020.[28]
In November 2020, according to Bloomberg News, Griffin's net worth surpassed $20 billion due to an increase in the value of Citadel, of which Griffin's stake was worth $11.2 billion.[29] Citadel Securities, a market maker, increased its profit to $2.36 billion during the first half of 2020 compared to $982 million for the same period in 2019, due to increased volatility, volume and retail trader engagement.[30][31]
In January 2021, Griffin attracted criticism for the role Citadel played in the GameStop short squeeze.[32] On January 25, it was announced that Citadel would invest $2 billion into Melvin Capital, which had suffered losses of more than 30% on account of its short positions, particularly on GameStop.[33][34][35] On January 28, Robinhood, an electronic trading platform favored by many traders involved in buying GameStop stock and options, announced that it would halt all purchases of GameStop securities and only allow these securities to be sold; the price of GME stock declined steeply shortly thereafter.[36] Because Robinhood receives a substantial portion of its revenue through a payment for order flow relationship with Citadel, 85% of which is owned by Griffin, many commentators criticized the potential for conflict of interest when the same entity both plays the role of market-maker and also participates in the market it makes; Griffin has been at the center of much discussion of this controversy.[37][38][39][40][41] On February 18, 2021, he testified before the House Financial Services Committee about his role in the GameStop controversy;[41][42] Griffin had donated money directly to four members of the committee, Republicans French Hill, Andy Barr, Ann Wagner, and Bill Huizenga.[41]
Personal life
Marriages
Griffin's first wife was Katherine Weingartt, his high-school sweetheart. The couple divorced in 1996.[89][90]
In March 2002, Griffin met his second wife, Anne Dias-Griffin after being set up on a blind date by a mutual friend.[79][91] She is a French-born graduate of Harvard Business School who worked at Goldman Sachs, Soros Fund Management, and Viking Global Investors before starting the Chicago-based $55 million firm[92] Aragon Global Management.[93] The couple married in July 2003[18] and had three children.[93]
In July 2014, Griffin filed a divorce petition in Cook County, Illinois, citing "irreconcilable differences" with Dias-Griffin.[94][95] The couple had a prenuptial agreement that governed the split of their assets in the event of divorce.[93][96][97][98] As part of the agreement, Dias-Griffin received $22.5 million at the beginning of their marriage and an additional $1 million each year they were married.[94][96] During the marriage, she received $37 million in cash payments and 50% ownership of their Chicago penthouse, which occupies three floors of the building.[99] In court fillings, she claimed that she was forced to sign the prenuptial agreement.[94][100] She also claimed that Ken Griffin had no right to enter the Chicago penthouse.[101][102] He allegedly forbade her from entering homes in Hawaii, Miami, Colorado and New York.[94] In later court filings, Dias-Griffin requested $1 million per month in child support payments, including $300,000 per month for private jet travel, $160,000 per month for vacation rentals, and $60,000 per month for office space and staff.[103][104][105][106] Griffin claimed that Dias-Griffin was attempting to use child support to fund her "opulent lifestyle".[107] During the divorce, she requested $450,000 for a 10-day vacation to St. Barts over winter break with their three children. Griffin denied her request but agreed to pay $45,000 for a winter vacation.[108][109][91] The couple settled their divorce out of court in October 2015, just hours before a public trial over the prenuptial agreement was set to begin.[110][94] As part of the divorce, Griffin paid $11.75 million to buy out his wife's interest in their Chicago penthouse.[111] He and Dias-Griffin maintain joint custody of their children.[94][112][113][114][100]
In popular culture
Nick Offerman portrays Griffin in the 2023 film Dumb Money, a biographical drama about the GameStop short squeeze. Griffin claims the original script contained many fabrications, and he coordinated with Sony Pictures to correct some inaccuracies before its release, but he still finds aspects of the film to be sensationalized.[209][210]