Billionaire Ken Griffin says Citadel’s Chicago – Business News
Billionaire Ken Griffin stated his hedge fund’s Chicago footprint will shrink to simply two flooring as crime, taxes and different challenges push workers to relocate to Miami and New York.
“Chicago, you know, over the last, unfortunately, over the last six or seven years, has been engulfed in a series of problems,” Griffin stated on the Citadel Securities Future of Global Markets convention in New York on Oct. 6.
The Windy City, which served as Citadel’s headquarters for more than 30 years, has seen a lot of the company’s workforce and operations shift south to Miami lately.
Griffin, who’s price $50 billion in response to Forbes, relocated his company’s international headquarters to Florida in 2022.
“Asking people to leave Chicago for New York or Miami has not been hard. We’ve gone from probably 1,300 people in Chicago to a few hundred. From being the primary tenant of one of the largest skyscrapers to, I think we will be down to two floors in a year,” he defined.
Citadel CEO Ken Griffin speaks at a information convention. AFP through Getty Images
The financial district in downtown Miami, Florida. Bloomberg through Getty Images
Griffin, who leads the world’s most profitable hedge fund, stated that the departure of so many longtime workers underscores Illinois’ mounting financial and social issues.
“I think the sad part of the story is how many people who had built lives in Chicago were willing to walk away from that and move to Miami or New York, just given the challenges that Illinois has faced,” he stated.
Griffin added that Chicago’s crime stays one of the town’s most urgent challenges.
His feedback come as President Donald Trump renews his push for a federal crackdown on crime in main US cities, a plan that features deploying troops to some Democrat-led areas experiencing rising violence.
The Bentley Residence condominium advanced, heart, underneath construction in Miami, Florida. Bloomberg through Getty Images
Griffin added that Chicago’s crime stays one of the town’s most urgent challenges. Citadel
The president’s push to deploy National Guard troops nationwide has ignited repeated clashes with Democratic governors and mayors.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has been among the many most vocal critics, condemning Trump’s deployment of troops and federal brokers into Chicago.
Trump has additionally threatened to increase deployments to different cities, together with Baltimore and New Orleans. Troops have already been despatched to Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Portland and Memphis.
