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Kenneth C. Griffin

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For the organist, see Kenneth W. Griffin.

Kenneth C. Griffin
Kenneth C. Griffin wearing a suit and tie (2014)
Born
Kenneth Cordele Griffin

(1968-10-15) October 15, 1968 (age 55)[1]
Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S.[2]
NationalityAmerican
Other namesKenn Griffin[3]
Alma materHarvard University 1986-1989
OccupationHedge fund manager
Years active1990–present
EmployerCitadel LLC
Known forInvestor & founder of Citadel[4]
Height6 ft 0 in (183 cm)[5]
TitleCEO
Board member of
  • • Trustee University of Chicago 2014–present[6]
  • • Trustee Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art 2000–present[7]
  • • Trustee Whitney Museum[8]
  • • Trustee Art Institute of Chicago 2004–present[9]
Spouse(s)
Katherine Weingartt
​
(divorced)​

​
​
(m. 2003; div. 2015)​
Children3

Kenneth Cordele Griffin (born October 15, 1968) is an American billionaire hedge fund manager, and philanthropist. He is the founder and chief executive (CEO) of the global investment firm Citadel, founded in 1990. Citadel is one of the world's largest alternative investment management firms with an estimated $32 billion in investment capital.

Early life and education

Growing up - Kenneth Cordele Griffin was born in 1968 in Daytona Beach, Florida, the son of a building supplies executive,[10] and grew up in the Boca Raton area, with some time in Texas and Wisconsin as well.[1] Griffin's father was a project manager for General Electric.[2]

Middle and high school - Griffin went to middle school in Boca Raton[2] and then attended Boca Raton Community High School, where he was the president of his math club.[1]

Investing at Harvard - Griffin began attending Harvard University in the fall of 1986.[1] That year, Griffin wanted to start investing after reading a Forbes magazine article. Griffin saw an inefficiency in the convertible bonds market, in which company bonds can be converted into stock.[1] He was able to convince the school’s administration to allow him to install a satellite dish on the roof of Cabot House for receiving stock quotes.[1] He also was able to convince 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.[2][1] His first fund launched in 1987 with $265,000, days after his nineteenth birthday.[1] The fund launched in time to profit from his short positions at the time of the stock market crash of October 19, 1987.[1] Griffin graduated from Harvard in 1989 with a degree in economics.

Career

1989: Glenwood Capital Investments - After graduating in 1989, Griffin moved to Chicago to work with the investor Frank Meyer, founder of Glenwood Capital Investments.[5] Meyer allotted $1 million of Glenwood capital for Griffin to trade.[5]

1990 to present: Citadel - A year later in 1990, Griffin founded Citadel and was able to launch the company with assets under management of $4.6 million due to the help of Frank Meyer (of Glenwood Capital Investments).[5] At the time of launch the company’s name was Citadel Investment Group, known today as Citadel.[5] Griffin chose the name Citadel for the word’s "connotation of strength in times of volatility."[5]

By 1998, Citadel had grown to a team of more than 100 employees and $1 billion in investment capital.

Legacy and awards - In 2008, he was inducted into Institutional Investors Alpha's Hedge Fund Manager Hall of Fame along with Alfred Jones, Bruce Kovner, David Swensen, George Soros, Jack Nash, James Simons, Julian Roberston, Leon Levy, Louis Bacon, Michael Steinhardt, Paul Tudor Jones, Seth Klarman and Steven A. Cohen.[11]

Wealth and investments

As of January 2019 Griffin had an estimated net worth of US$9.9 billion, making him the richest person in Illinois and the 45th richest person in America.[3]

Rankings - In 2003, aged 34, Griffin was the youngest self-made individual on the Forbes' Forbes 400 with an estimated net worth of $650 million.[12] In 2014, Griffin reportedly earned $1.3 billion including a share of his firm's management and performance fees, cash compensation and stock and option awards.

Real estate - Griffin has made personal real estate investments. In 2013 he acquired four real estate properties in Palm Beach, Florida for a total of $130 million,[13] and, in 2019, he acquired 3 Carlton Gardens near Buckingham Palace for £95 million ($122 million).[14] In January 2019, he purchased the penthouse at 220 Central Park South in New York City for $238 million, a US record for a home purchase.

Aragon Global Management - Griffin was the lead investor, losing 20 percent, in Anne Dias Griffin, his then wife's, hedge fund Aragon Global Management beginning in 2003 through to 2009 which was also was seeded with money from billionaire New York investor Julian Robertson.[15]

Political

Personal Politics

In 2012, Griffin said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune that he was a Reagan Republican. He said, "This belief that a larger government is what creates prosperity, that a larger government is what creates good: is wrong."[16]

Political Donations

After the 2007–08 financial crisis, Griffin made political contributions and donations to political candidates, parties, and organizations that supported his views of limited government such as American Crossroads, the Republican Governors Association.

In 2015, Griffin donated $5.855 million to Conservative Solutions PAC, Freedom Partners Action Fund, Right To Rise USA and Future45.[17]

Of that, Freedom Partners, a PAC aligned with the Koch brothers' business interests and opposed the Affordable Care Act received $2 million.

State level - Donated to former U.S. Representative Eric Cantor, Republican of Virginia, and former Senator Mark Kirk, Republican of Illinois. He donated $2.5 million to Bruce Rauner, a Republican candidate for Illinois governor.

Republican presidential nominations - 2012 Republican presidential nomination - Restore Our Future, a Super PAC that supported Mitt Romney's presidential bid.[1][16] Griffin backed Mitt Romney's 2012 run for the presidency.

2016 Republican presidential nomination - In December 2015, Griffin endorsed Sen. Marco Rubio for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination and stated that he planned to donate millions to a pro-Rubio super PAC.[18] Before this endorsement, Griffin had donated $100,000 each to three super PACs supporting Rubio, Jeb Bush, and Scott Walker for the GOP nomination.[18]

Public statements

Economic

Relating to risk management — In May 2008, Griffin criticized the risk management practices of Wall Street saying: "As an industry, we have a responsibility to manage risk in a way that is prudent ... The capital markets are controlled by a bunch of right-out-of business school young guys who haven't really seen that much. You have a real lack of wisdom."[19] Griffin has also stated: "We, as an industry, dropped the ball. The industry needs to overhaul its thinking, accept greater regulation."[20] He explained his views on regulation and risk in a 2008 New York Times article where he was quoted as saying "The unwillingness of the Federal Reserve and the S.E.C. to require working capital limits only exacerbates the risk-taking environment because the banks are playing the equivalent of no-limit poker."[19] Later in 2008, he testified to the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, stating that "The rapid growth in the use of derivatives has created an opaque market whose outstanding notional value is measured in the hundreds of trillions of dollars. As a result, there is great concern about the systemic effects of the failure of any one financial institution."[21]

Relating to market structure — In 2014 Griffin voiced his stance on issues on financial regulations and market structure and has testified at various government hearings.[22] In 2014 he gave testimony at a U.S. Senate Committee[23] hearing on "The Role of Regulation in Shaping Equity Market Structure and Electronic Trading", in which he reiterated the need to have industry regulations catch up with the changes in market structure to increase the fairness and resilience of U.S. equity markets.[22] Griffin, along with NASDAQ Executive Vice President Thomas A. Whittman and Jeff Sprecher, founder and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, a subsidiary of which operates the New York Stock Exchange, has voiced concerns about regulation failing to keep pace with changes in market structure as in the practice of dark pools discriminating against certain customer segments.[24]

Philanthropy

In October 2009, Griffin and his wife founded the Kenneth and Anne Griffin Foundation.

Education

In October 2006, the Griffins and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded and supported the opening of a new charter school in Chicago called Woodlawn High School.[1]

In October 2009, $10 million for the Griffin Early Childhood Center in Chicago Heights.[25] An experimental educational effort run by economics professor John A. List, from University of Chicago, to test whether investing in teachers or in parents produces better student performance in school.[25]

As of 2010 Griffin had contributed to public education & the Chicago Public Library.[10]

At the beginning of 2014, Griffin made a $150 million donation to the financial aid program at Harvard University, his alma mater, the largest single donation ever made to the institution at the time, and his donations to various organizations and causes have totaled about $700 million.[26]

In 2014, he was elected to a five-year term on the University of Chicago's board of trustees. He is also a member of a number of organizations including the Economic Club of Chicago, and the civic committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago.[27] Griffin is the vice chairman of the Chicago Public Education Fund.[26]

In November 2017, the Kenneth C. Griffin Charitable Fund announced that it intends to make a new $125 million gift to support the Department of Economics of the University of Chicago, which will be renamed the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics.[6]

Museum

With total donation totaling $21.5 million the Field Museum of Natural History renamed their Griffin funded dinosaur exhibit the Griffin Dinosaur Experience. And opened in the Griffin Halls an exhibit titled Evolving Planet that chronicles the earth's history from its beginnings.[28]

In October 2019, the Kenneth C. Griffin Charitable fund announced a $125 million gift to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, the largest gift in the museum's history. The museum intends to change the name to the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry.

Arts, poverty, and health

In 2010, Griffin had contributed to Chicago Symphony Orchestra's productions at Millennium Park.[10] He also supported the University of Chicago’s Center for Urban School Improvement, a program encouraging the construction of an inner-city charter high school.[10] That same year, Griffin had contributed to the Chicago Children's Memorial Hospital.[29]

In 2017 Griffin contributed $15 million to the Robin Hood Foundation.[30]

Art collection

Art collection - Griffin is an active modern and contemporary art buyer.[8] He buys art from mainstream artists.[31]

Griffin's collection of modern paintings include his purchase in 1999, of Paul Cézanne's painting Curtain, Jug and Fruit Bowl for a record $60 million at the time.[1] Griffin’s 2016 purchases from David Geffen of Willem de Kooning's 1955 oil painting, Interchange for $300 million, and Jackson Pollock's 1948 painting, Number 17A, for $200 million.[9]

In terms of contemporary art, Griffin purchased False Start by artist Jasper Johns for $80 million in October 2006 from David Geffen.[32] In 2015, he purchased Gerhard Richter’s 1986 painting Abstract Picture, 599 for $46 million.[31]

Art support - Griffin has donated money to multiple art museums, beginning primarily in the 2000s.

He has been on the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago since 2000 and regularly supports its exhibitions.[7]

In July of 2007, Griffin donated a $19 million addition to the Art Institute of Chicago that was designed by Renzo Piano and named Kenneth and Anne Griffin Court.[33] The Paul Cézanne paintings have also been loaned to the Institute.[10]

As of 2010, Griffin had contributed to the Art Institute of Chicago.[1] He serves on the Board of Trustees at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York as of 2010, whose lobby bears his name: Kenneth C. Griffin Hall.[8] In February 2015, Griffin donated $10 million to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and used to create the Griffin Galleries of Contemporary Art.[7][34]

In December 2015 he donated an unrestricted gift of $40 million to the Museum of Modern Art in New York in return the "MoMA will name its 1964 Philip Johnson-designed East Wing after Griffin."[8]

Personal life

Family - Griffin met his first wife, Katherine Weingartt, at Boca Raton Community High School. The couple divorced.

In 2002 Griffin met Anne Dias-Griffin, who was born in France and had graduated from Harvard Business School; worked at Goldman Sachs, Soros Fund Management, Viking Global and had then founded the $55 million[35] Aragon Global Management, a Chicago-based hedge fund firm.[36] Griffin later married Anne Dias-Griffin, in July 2003.[15] They have three children.[36] Griffin and Anne separated in 2012.[15] Griffin and his second wife finalized their divorce in October 2015, citing "irreconcilable differences".[37]

In 2019, Kenneth C. Griffin had bought an apartment on Central Park - 220 Central Park South - for a record price, $238 million, where he would reside only occasionally - as comparison, in the same year, the whole Chrysler Building was sold only for $150 million.[38] That is the most expensive home ever sold in the United States.[39]

Religion - Griffin is a member of the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago.[40] In 2011, Griffin donated $11 million of the $38.2 million needed to build a new chapel at the church.[40] The modern building is called "The Gratz Center" in honor of Griffin's grandparents.[40]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Meyer, Graham (June 8, 2011). "The File on Citadel's Ken Griffin". No. Politics & City Life. Chicago, IL, United States: Chicago Magazine. Chicago Tribune Media. ISSN 0362-4595. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d Anderson, Jenny (April 4, 2007). "Will a Hedge Fund Become the Next Goldman Sachs? (DealBook)". No. DealBook. United States: New York Times. The New York Times Company. ISSN 1553-8095. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c "#38 Ken Griffin - Founder & CEO, Citadel LLC". United States: Forbes. Forbes Media LLC. December 21, 2019. ISSN 0015-6914. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  4. ^ Copeland, Rob (August 3, 2015). "Citadel's Ken Griffin Leaves 2008 Tumble Far Behind". No. Markets. United States: Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company Inc. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Vickers, Marcia (April 3, 2007). "A hedge fund superstar - Citadel founder Ken Griffin is already one of the world's most powerful investors". United States: Fortune. Fortune Media IP Limited. Retrieved April 26, 2008.
  6. ^ a b Leubsdorf, Ben (November 1, 2017). "Citadel's Kenneth Griffin to Donate $125 Million for University of Chicago Economics". No. Education. United States: Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company Inc. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
  7. ^ a b c "MCA gets $10 million from Ken Griffin". No. Bloomberg. Chicago, IL, United States: Crain's Chicago Business. Crain Communications, Inc. February 20, 2015. ISSN 1557-7902. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  8. ^ a b c d "Ken Griffin donates $40 million to New York's Museum of Modern Art". No. Finance & Banking. Chicago, IL, United States: Crain's Chicago Business. Crain Communications, Inc. December 22, 2015. ISSN 1557-7902. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
  9. ^ a b Kazakina, Katya; Burton, Katherine (February 18, 2016). "Billionaire Griffin Pays $500 Million for Two Paintings". No. Pursuits. United States: Bloomberg News. Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
  10. ^ a b c d e Reed, Robert (October 3, 2005). "Hedge Fun". No. Politics & City Life. Chicago, IL, United States: Chicago Magazine. Chicago Tribune Media. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  11. ^ "Cohen, Simons, 12 Others Enter Hedge Fund Hall". Institutional Investor. Institutional Investor LLC. September 23, 2008. ISSN 0020-3580. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  12. ^ "America's rich get richer". No. Forbes. New York, N.Y., United States: CNN. Cable News Network. September 19, 2003. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  13. ^ "Citadel's Kenneth Griffin Buys Four Properties in Palm Beach for $130 Million". No. Real Estate. United States: Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company Inc. February 14, 2013. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  14. ^ Morrison, Sean (January 21, 2019). "Hedge fund tycoon buys £95m mansion overlooking Buckingham Palace in most expensive UK home sale since 2011". United Kingdom: The Evening Standard (London). ESI Media. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  15. ^ a b c Kapos, Shia (February 20, 2015). "Ken Griffin gives his side of the blowup in the bedroom". Chicago, IL, United States: Crain's Chicago Business. Crain Communications, Inc. ISSN 1557-7902. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  16. ^ a b Harris, Melissa (March 11, 2012). "Ken Griffin interview: Billionaire talks politics and money". No. Business - Chicago Confidential. Chicago, IL, United States: Chicago Tribune. Tribune Publishing Company. Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  17. ^ "Griffin, Kenneth C. & Anne Dias: Donor Detail". Center for Responsive Politics. April 21, 2016. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
  18. ^ a b Ballhaus, Rebecca (December 9, 2015). "Billionaire Hedge-Fund Manager to Support Rubio for GOP Nomination". No. WASHINGTON WIREBlogs. United States: Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company Inc. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  19. ^ a b Sorkin, Andrew (May 2008). "A Wish List for Fixing Wall Street". New York Times.
  20. ^ Opalesque (May 13, 2008). "Kenneth Griffin states industry needs to overhaul its thinking".
  21. ^ Jenny Strasburg (November 14, 2008). "Capitol Hill Questions Hedge-Fund Managers". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 25, 2015.
  22. ^ a b "Testimony of Mr. Kenneth Griffin". United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs. July 8, 2014. Retrieved January 25, 2015.
  23. ^ "Wall St trade group proposes reforms to U.S. equity market". Reuters. July 14, 2014. Retrieved January 25, 2015.
  24. ^ Michaels, Dave; Hopkins, Cheyenne (July 8, 2014). "High-Speed Trading Risk Blamed on U.S. Market Regulations". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved January 25, 2015.
  25. ^ a b Staley, Oliver (February 23, 2011). "Chicago Economist's 'Crazy Idea' Wins Ken Griffin's Backing". United States: BloombergMarkets. Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
  26. ^ a b Lauerman, John (February 20, 2014). "Citadel's Griffin Gives Harvard $150 Million for Student Aid". No. Pursuits. United States: Bloomberg News. Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  27. ^ Marek, Lynne (March 14, 2019). "Is Ken Griffin serious about a Citadel HQ move?". No. Finance & Banking. Chicago, IL, United States: Crain's Chicago Business. Crain Communications, Inc. ISSN 1557-7902. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
  28. ^ Bertagnoli, Lisa (June 14, 2019). "The Field's CEO inherited a bit of a mess 7 years ago. Here's what he's done to clean it up". No. Nonprofits & philanthropy. United States: Crain's Chicago Business. Crain Communications, Inc. ISSN 1557-7902. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
  29. ^ Harris, Melissa; Japsen, Bruce (January 7, 2010). "Kenneth and Anne Griffin give $16 million to Children's Memorial Hospital". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  30. ^ Gordon, Amanda (April 27, 2017). "Hedge Fund Billionaire Griffin to Give $15 Million to Robin Hood". No. Business. Bloomberg News. Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  31. ^ a b Lane, Mary (February 13, 2015). "Sotheby's Brushes Up Its Image With London Auction". No. Business. London: Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company Inc. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
  32. ^ Crow, Kelly; Germano, Sara (January 23, 2014). "New Masters of the Art Universe". United States: Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company Inc. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  33. ^ "Citadel's Griffin at the Art World's Gates". No. DealBook. United States: New York Times. The New York Times Company. July 26, 2007. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  34. ^ Kazakina, Katya (February 20, 2015). "Citadel's Griffin Gives $10 Million to Chicago Art Museum". No. Pursuits. United States: Bloomberg News. Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
  35. ^ Murphy, Tim (April 6, 2007). "Who Gets to Marry a Billionaire?". New York, N.Y., United States: New York Magazine. New York Media LLC. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  36. ^ a b Stevenson, Alexandra; De La Merced, Michael (July 24, 2014). "A Divorce That Thrusts Ken Griffin and Anne Dias Griffin Into the Spotlight". No. DealBook. New York, N.Y., United States: New York Times. The New York Times Company. p. B3. ISSN 1553-8095. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  37. ^ Herbst-Bayliss, Svea; Valdmanis, Richard (October 7, 2015). "Citadel's Kenneth Griffin settles divorce case". No. Wealth. Boston, MA, United States: Reuters. Thompson Reuters. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  38. ^ Ginia Bellafante (December 27, 2019). "9 Ways New York Changed That We Didn't See Coming". The New York Times. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  39. ^ Clarke, Katherine (January 23, 2019). "Billionaire Ken Griffin Buys America's Most Expensive Home for $238 Million". The Wall Street Journal.
  40. ^ a b c Kent, Cheryl (December 19, 2012). "Fourth Presbyterian Church's new Gratz Center a welcome and brave grace note". No. Entertainment. Chicago, IL, United States: Chicago Tribune. Tribune Publishing Company. ISSN 2165-171X. Retrieved July 26, 2013.

Further reading

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