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| 1. (tie) Kenneth Griffin / $1.7 billion | ||
| Title: Founder and chief executive officerFirm: Citadel (Chicago)Age: 472015 Rank: No. 1 (tie)2015 Earnings: $1.7 billion2014 Rank: No. 12014 Earnings: $1.3 billionYears on list: 14 | Source of 2015 earnings: Market-neutral stock trading, commodities, fixed incomeEducation: BA in economics, Harvard University, 1989 | |
Citadel founder Kenneth Griffin knows diversification. Last year the multistrategy specialist was not just busy trading stocks, commodities and bonds, he was also moving in and out of high-end real estate and art. His flagship hedge funds, Kensington and Wellington, both posted gains of 14.3 percent, among the industry’s best performers in a difficult year. Although this was Chicago-based Citadel’s worst year since 2010, it was good enough for Griffin to tie Renaissance Technologies’ James Simons for No. 1 on the Rich List, with $1.7 billion in earnings, after topping it the previous year. All five of Citadel’s multistrategy funds’ five broad asset classes made money: equities, commodities, global fixed income, credit and quantitative strategies. Gains were driven by the firm’s market-neutral stock-trading strategy; its Citadel Global Equities Fund jumped 17.2 percent last year. Citadel also did well in the reeling commodities markets while in fixed income it made some money trading interest rates across Group Seven currencies. The Citadel CEO also has been busy trading real estate assets. The 47-year-old, who settled his messy, public divorce last year, shelled out about $200 million to purchase several floors of a new condominium building at 220 Central Park South in New York, in what was called the most expensive individual residential real estate deal in U.S. history. In 2014, Griffin spent nearly $30 million to buy two full-floor condos at the Waldorf Astoria in Chicago. Meanwhile, he’s trying to sell two Miami Beach condos for a total of $73 million. Over the summer Griffin paid $500 million for two paintings: Willem de Kooning’s Interchange and Jackson Pollock’s Number 17A. To celebrate his firm’s 25th anniversary last year, Griffin hired pop star Katy Perry to perform at a party in Chicago and Maroon 5 to play at a fête in New York. Over the years Griffin has donated $500 million to charity.
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