Ken Griffin Net Worth 2022: How Did Ken Griffin Make His Money?

Kenneth Cordele Griffin is a prominent American hedge fund manager, entrepreneur, and investor. He was born on October 15, 1968, in the United States. Citadel LLC, an international hedge fund, was founded by him, and today he serves as the company's chief executive officer, and co-chief investment officer, and owns 80 percent of the company. Citadel Securities, the most significant market maker in the United States, is also under his ownership.

Griffin is the richest person in the state of Illinois and the 47th richest person in the United States, according to an estimate of his net worth, which places him with a value of either US$25.6 billion or US$29.4 billion.

Griffin is known for donating tens of millions of dollars to various political campaigns and organizations, most of which are affiliated with the Republican Party. In addition to that, he has been quite generous to a variety of philanthropic organizations, notably those working in the areas of education and the arts. His art collection is estimated to be worth $800 million, and the combined value of his personal dwellings is over one billion dollars.

Early Life

The 15th of October, 1968 found Ken Griffin being brought into the world at Daytona Beach, Florida. Griffin continued his education and earned a degree from Harvard University. He started investing while he was still in school, and by the time he graduated, he had accumulated one million dollars.

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Success

After that, in 1990, he established his own hedge fund business called Citadel LLC. Because of the enormous success of the firm during the 1990s and into the early 2000s, Mr. Griffin began to appear often on the rankings of the wealthiest Americans that were produced by Forbes and Fortune.

In 2008, almost all funds, including his own, suffered losses, as did his firm. In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008, he personally had a loss in net worth of more than a billion dollars, while his fund suffered a loss of $9 billion.

But finally, he was able to pull through and is now back to the heights he was at before the recession with more than $35 billion in assets under management.

Ken Griffin's Net Worth

American businessman Ken Griffin has amassed a net worth of $28 billion USD during the course of his career. Griffin serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Citadel, a hedge fund that oversees more than $35 billion in assets.

The organization's five primary investment focuses include fixed income and macro, quantitative methods, commodities, equity, and credit markets. The company is situated in Chicago. In addition to it, he established Citadel Securities, a global market-making company.

Meme Stock Controversy

Because of the electronic trading operation that Ken runs at Citadel Securities, he has been the object of criticism and even downright hatred from a number of investors who operate on a smaller scale.

These concerns may be traced back to the “meme stocks” that had a surge in popularity at the beginning of the year 2020. On the stock trading site Robinhood, transactions involving a number of these meme stocks, including AMC and GameStop, were taking place.

At the end of January 2020, while the share price of GameStop was skyrocketing, Robinhood briefly restricted trading in meme stocks so that they could only be sold. The purchase button has been eliminated entirely.

Some people believe that Citadel exerted pressure on Robinhood to put such trading limitations in place because of the significant price fluctuations. Due to the limitation, investors were only able to sell their holdings during periods when the price was down, which resulted in financial hardship for some. Citadel has denied having any part in the decision made by Robinhood.

Art Collection

In addition to his position at a hedge fund, he is also known for his extensive art collection. In 2016, he shelled out a total of $500 million to purchase two works of art: one was a Jackson Pollack painting, and the other was a Willem de Kooning artwork.

Philanthropy

To date, Griffin has contributed more than one billion dollars to a wide variety of charitable organizations. The University of Chicago, the Ann & Robert Lurie Children's Hospital, The Field Museum of Natural History, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art, and the American Museum of Natural History are just a few of the institutions that have benefited from his generosity.

At the beginning of the year 2020, Ken Griffin and other partners from Citadel and Citadel Securities donated twenty million dollars to COVID-19 in order to support its operations in China, Chicago, New York, and the United Kingdom.

Greater Chicago Food Depository, Imperial College London, and New York City are among the recipients. Rockefeller University and the COVID-19 Response & Impact Fund have also contributed.

Constitution

In November of 2021, Ken purchased an exceedingly rare first-edition copy of the United States Constitution at auction for the price of $43.2 million. Griffin was able to outbid a group of cryptocurrency investors who had pooled together $40 million in the hopes of winning the auction, which was held by Sotheby's. Griffin's winning bid was rumored to have set a world record.

Homes

For his own personal properties, Ken spent a total of $750 million between the years 2013 and 2019. These acquisitions include a mansion in Hawaii for $17 million, land in Palm Beach, Florida, for $200 million, a mansion in London for $122 million, and four floors in a New York City building for $238 million.

The mansion in Chicago was the most expensive purchase in the history of Illinois, and the home in Miami set a record for that city. Other notable acquisitions include a home in Miami for $60 million, a record for that city. His acquisition of a property in New York City established a new benchmark as the most expensive house ever sold in the history of the United States.

In December of 2021, Ken purchased a home on Star Island in Miami for the price of $75 million. The transaction resulted in the most costly sale of a home in the annals of Miami real estate history.

Wealth Milestones

Started out investing in his dorm with $265k raised from friends and family. Had over $1m by the time he graduated
Personally lost $1b in the 2008 crisis, and his firm lost $9b
Today his company, which he owns entirely, manages $30 billion
Made $1.4 billion in 2018
Has spent $750 million on personal real estate since 2013
In 2017 he donated $125m to the University of Chicago
In 2016 he spent $500m on TWO paintings
Holds the record for the most expensive home purchase in Illinois, Florida, New York, and the United States
His $200m purchase in Palm Beach, FL is just land. Still needs to build a house!
His $240m NYC purchase is the top four un-furnished floors of a building. Still needs to spend millions on furniture and fixtures (sinks, stoves, refrigerators)

Frequently Asked Questions

How did Ken Griffin make his money?

Citadel, a hedge fund business with its headquarters in Chicago and managing assets of over $39 billion, was established by Ken Griffin, who also serves as the company's CEO. Although he started trading from his Harvard dorm room in 1987, he did not launch Citadel until the year 1990. He installed a satellite dish atop the house so that he could monitor real-time stock prices.

When Did Ken Griffin Become a Billionaire?

During 1991 and 1992, his investments returned 43 and 40 percent each. Citadel Securities, a market maker, was formed by Griffin in the early 2000s. Griffin was the youngest self-made billionaire on the Forbes 400 in 2003, aged 34, with a net worth of $650 million.