Thursday 23 June 2022 10:27 PM Ken Griffin is taking his trading firm Citadel to Miami after slamming ... trends now
Illinois' richest man is leaving the state and taking his billion-dollar hedge firm with him to Florida amid rising crime in the Windy City.
In a memo to employees, Ken Griffin announced he and his family are relocating to Miami, Florida - and said the headquarters of his Citadel hedge fund and his trading firm Citadel Securities will move with him.
'Chicago will continue to be important to the future of the Citadel, as many of our colleagues have deep ties to Illinois,' he wrote in the memo, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
'Over the past year, however, many of our Chicago teams have asked to relocate to Miami, New York and other offices around the world.'
He went on to call Chicago a 'remarkable home' for Citadel, and praised past support from political and business leaders.
But Griffin, 53, also called Miami a 'vibrant, growing metropolis that embodies the American Dream,' and said the company's new location in Brickell Bay will be in the heart of the city's business district.
The company has already had a presence in Miami since March 2020, when employees started working from a high-end there at the start of the pandemic.
But Griffin has now hired Chicago-based developer Sterling Bay to build a new headquarters, and in the meantime, he said in the memo, Citadel will lease space in Miami until the building is finished.
The move is expected to take several years to complete - as the firms have more than 1,000 employees in Chicago.
It will deal a significant blow to the state's tax collection efforts, as Griffin has a net worth of about $25 billion and is among the top 50 wealthiest people in the world, according to the Wall Street Journal, and comes on the heels of the Chicago region losing the corporate headquarters of Boeing and Caterpillar.
And though he does not mention it in his memo, the Journal reports, top executives believe the city's rising crime may be a factor - though they also note that Florida does not have a state income tax, which would let Griffin keep more of his earnings.
Ken Griffin, 53, the wealthiest person in Illinois, announced on Thursday that he is moving his family and his hedge fund's headquarters down to Miami
The move of Citadel's headquarters (pictured) is expected to deliver a major blow to the city's economy after it already lost the corporate headquarters of Boeing and Caterpillar
Griffin has been a staple of the Windy City for years, after founding the Citadel Fund in Chicago in 1990. He has since spent about $500 million on local causes, and the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago said it would name itself after him after he donated $125 million
Griffin has been a staple of the Windy City for years.
He founded the Citadel Fund in Chicago in 1990, and it has become one of the most successful alternative investment vehicles for wealthy people and institutions in the world.
Citadel is now one of the most successful hedge-fund firms, managing $51 billion in assets and consistently outpacing competitors. In fact, the company has continued to perform well even as the economy slumps, with executives reporting recently that its assets are up 13 percent.
By 2002, Griffin founded Citadel Securities, which has become the world's top market maker. As of January, it was valued at $22 billion.
Griffin has since donated about $500 million to local causes, and plans to give more.
He has paid for the construction of 50 miniature soccer fields across the city and made it possible to separate bicyclists and runners along the Lakefront
