Kenneth C. Griffin

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Kenneth C. Griffin (born 1968 in Daytona Beach, Florida) is an American hedge fund manager. Currently, he is Managing Director and CEO of Citadel Investment Group, a Chicago based hedge fund. A self-made billionaire, he founded and propelled Citadel to one of the largest and most successful hedge funds in the world.

Formerly, little was known about Griffin; in previous years he avoided extensive press coverage in a manner similar to other hedge fund managers such as billionaire Steven A. Cohen. Recently, more information has become known about Griffin because he has granted more interviews. The secrecy of Citadel also appears to be changing, as rumors of plans to launch an IPO of the firm have surfaced. In addition, the muscle of Citadel is difficult to miss in the financial world; at $12 billion in assets, the fund accounts for 1-3% of trading in Tokyo and New York.

Contents

1 Business Career
2 Wealth
3 Controversy
4 Other Information
5 External links

Business Career

What can be gathered about Griffin's appearance in the securities market is a remarkable success story. While at Harvard he started two funds from his dorm room, and in between classes he would make trades. He even installed a special satellite to his dorm to acquire real-time market data. After graduating with a degree in economics, he won the attention of an investor named Frank C. Meyer. Meyer was amazed at Griffin's success and rate of return with his investments (which at the time were largely based on convertible bonds), and provided a relatively small investment for Griffin to work miracles with ($1 million) [link]. Griffin exceeded Meyer's expectations, and as word of his wonders spread, investors flocked to Griffin for a piece of his remarkable rates of return. Citadel was officially founded Nov. 1, 1990 with $4.2 million; the name "Citadel" was chosen to suggest strength in times of volatility [link].

With Citadel quickly growing, it began to show a uniqueness in the hedge fund world. Citadel was a very secretive company, even for a hedge fund; some investors were frightened by Citadel because while it required a large sum of money to join (like all hedge funds), the fund gave little information about what was happening to that money. Citadel also required investors to pay all expenses, and took a substantial 20% of all profits (though it should be noted that rival hedge fund SAC Capital Partners retains a larger 50% share of its investors' profits).

However, for those who did put their trust in the firm, huge rewards followed as the result of other unique qualities of the fund. Citadel's success and immensity is perhaps entirely the embodiment of Griffin's wide range of skills he had before the company was incepted. Griffin could program advanced computer code, write complicated mathematical formulas, and was quiet: Citadel, in a sense, has succeeded by blending the three. The firm has brought together mathematicians, physicists, engineers, investment analysts, advanced computer technology, and confidentiality agreements with its employees.

Wealth

In the past few years Griffin has appeared on the Forbes 400 list as one of the wealthiest Americans; as of 2005, his wealth was estimated at $1.5 billion. Forbes ranks him as the 207th richest American [link] and the 512th richest person globally [link]. His 2004 compensation was reportedly $240 million [link], slightly higher than his 2003 compensation ($230 million) [link].

Controversy

A Florida man named Rush Simonson claims he is a former business partner of Griffin and on June 2006 sues for breach of partnership and claims compensation, stating he is the co-creator of Citadel’s proprietary software.[link]

Kenneth Griffin has engaged in an ongoing recruiting rivalry with rival hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb of Third Point.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]} One such hire made by Griffin prompted Mr. Loeb to pen a widely circulated letter stating: "Let me be clear that under no circumstances are you to approach any Third Point employees or attempt to offer them jobs... My warning extends to any attempt you may make to hire employees of my friends in the event driven space: should you attempt to hire people from them I will consider it a similar act of war. My friends enemies become my enemies."

Other Information

Apart from the business world, the hedge fund pioneer has devoted some of his time to collection and patronage of the arts [link]. He allegedly paid a record price ($60.5 million) for a painting by Paul Cézanne [link] [link], although another source reported that the painting was sold to a member of the Whitney family [link]. Griffin also serves on the Advisory Board of Eurasia Group, the political risk consultancy.

In July 2004, Griffin married Anne Dias-Griffin in Versailles [link]. Dias is the founder of Aragon Global Management, another Chicago-based hedge fund [link].

External links

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