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| 6. Kenneth Griffin / $600 million | ||
| Title: Founder and chief executive officerFirm: Citadel (Chicago)Age: 482016 Rank: No. 62016 Earnings: $600 million2015 Rank: No. 1 (tie)2015 Earnings: $1.7 billionYears on list: 15 | Source of 2016 earnings: Fixed income, credit, commodities, quantitative strategiesEducation: BA in economics, Harvard University, 1989 | |
In 2016, Citadel’s main multistrategy funds, Wellington and Kensington, posted their smallest gain in eight years, finishing up just 5.06 percent, yet that was a sharp rebound from the nearly 9 percent loss sustained sometime in the first quarter. Kenneth Griffin is one of 13 individuals qualifying for the Rich List this year who posted single-digit gains in at least one of their funds.
For Griffin the result was $600 million in earnings, a 65 percent decline from the $1.7 billion he made a year earlier, when he was one of two individuals sharing the top spot on the Rich List — his second straight year heading the ranking.
The multistrategy funds’ 2016 results were led by fixed income, credit, commodities, and quantitative strategies. The firm’s best-performing fund was the Citadel Global Fixed Income Fund, which gained 12.39 percent. Citadel Tactical Trading, which specializes in equities and some statistical arbitrage, was up 2.62 percent, while the Citadel Global Equities Fund was slightly negative. Citadel successfully took advantage of several significant market-moving events last year. They included the June Brexit vote, interest rate changes in the U.S. and the U.K., and the reversal in the direction of interest rates following the November elections in the U.S.
How did Griffin spend his growing wealth? The philanthropic Chicagoan late last year donated $12 million to repair his city’s 18-mile lakefront trail, aiming to make it safer and more appealing for runners, bicyclists, and walkers. Last year the Republican donor backed three different unsuccessful candidates for president: Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, and Scott Walker.
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