As of January 2026, Griffin had an estimated net worth of $51.2 billion, making him the world's 34th-richest person.[4] He was included inForbes's 2023 list of the United States' Most Generous Givers, according to which he has donated $1.56 billion to various charitable causes, primarily in education, economic mobility, and medical research.[5]
Griffin has contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to political candidates and causes, usually Republican or conservative in ideology. Griffin is a member ofThe Business Council in Washington, D.C.[6]
Early life and education
Griffin was born in 1968 inDaytona Beach, Florida, the son of a building supplies executive.[7] His father had various jobs, and was aproject manager forGeneral Electric.[8] Griffin's grandmother, Genevieve Huebsch Gratz, inherited an oil business, three farms, and a seed business.[9]
Griffin grew up inBoca Raton, Florida, as well as Texas and Wisconsin.[10][11] He went to middle school in Boca Raton[8] andBoca Raton Community High School, where he was the president of the math club.[10][12] In high school, Griffin ran a discount mail-order education software firm, EDCOM, out of his bedroom.[12] In a 1986 article in theSun-Sentinel, he said he thought he would become a businessman or lawyer and that he believed the job market forcomputer programmers would significantly decrease over the coming decade.[12]
Griffin started atHarvard College in the fall of 1986.[10] That year, one of his first investments was to buyput options onHome Shopping Network, making a $5,000 profit.[13] He also invested inconvertible arbitrage opportunities inconvertible bonds.[10] Despite a ban on running businesses from campus, Griffin convinced school administrators to allow him to install asatellite dish on the roof ofCabot House, adormitory, to receive stock quotes.[13][10] He also asked Terrence J. O'Connor, the manager ofconvertible 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.[8][10] His first fund launched in 1987 with $265,000, days after his 19th birthday.[10] The fund launched in time to profit fromshort positions onBlack Monday.[10] Griffin graduated in 1989 and received aBachelor of Arts degree with a major ineconomics.[14]
Career
After graduating in 1989, Griffin moved toChicago to work with Frank Meyer, founder of Glenwood Capital Investments.[15][16] Meyer allotted $1 million of Glenwood capital for Griffin to trade[17] and Griffin made 70% in a year.[10]
In 1990, Griffin foundedCitadel LLC, withassets under management of $4.6 million, aided by contributions from Meyer.[16] His funds made 43% in 1991 and 40% in 1992.[13]
In the early 2000s, Griffin founded market maker Citadel Securities.[18][19]
In 2003, aged 34, Griffin was the youngest person on theForbes 400, with an estimated net worth of $650 million.[20]
From the time of his second marriage toAnne Dias in 2003 until late 2009, Griffin was the lead investor in Aragon Global Management, ahedge fund run by his then wife. The fund was also seeded with money fromJulian Robertson. Griffin lost 20% of his investment in the fund.[21]
In 2006, Citadel acquired the positions ofAmaranth Advisors at a steep discount.[10]
During the2008 financial crisis, for 10 months, Griffin barred his investors from withdrawing money, attracting criticism.[2][22] At the crisis's peak, the firm was losing "hundreds of millions of dollars each week".[23] It was leveraged 7:1 and the biggest funds at Citadel finished 2008 down 55%, but rebounded with a 62% return in 2009.[10]
FromCitadel LLC, Griffin earned $900 million in 2009,[24] $1.4 billion in 2014,[25] $600 million in 2016,[26] $1.4 billion in 2017,[27][28] $870 million in 2018,[29] $1.5 billion in 2019,[30] and $1.8 billion in 2020.[31]
In November 2020, according toBloomberg News, Griffin's net worth surpassed $20 billion due to an increase in the value of Citadel, of which Griffin's stake was worth $11.2 billion.[32] Citadel Securities, amarket maker, increased its profit to $2.36 billion during the first half of 2020 compared to $982 million for the same period in 2019, due to increasedvolatility, volume and retail trader engagement.[33][34]
In January 2021, Griffin attracted criticism for the role Citadel played in theGameStop short squeeze.[35] On January 25, it was announced that Citadel would invest $2 billion into Melvin Capital, which had suffered losses of more than 30% on account of its short positions, particularly on GameStop.[36][37][38] On January 28,Robinhood, anelectronic trading platform favored by many traders involved in buying GameStop stock and options, announced that it would halt all purchases of GameStop securities and only allow these securities to be sold; the price of GME stock declined steeply shortly thereafter.[39] Because Robinhood received a substantial portion of its revenue through apayment for order flow relationship with Citadel, 85% of which Griffin owned, many commentators criticized the potential for conflict of interest when the same entity both plays the role of market-maker and also participates in the market it makes; Griffin has been at the center of much discussion of this controversy.[40][41][42][43][44] On February 18, 2021, he testified before the House Financial Services Committee about his role in the GameStop controversy;[44][45] Griffin had donated money directly to four members of the committee, RepublicansFrench Hill,Andy Barr,Ann Wagner, andBill Huizenga.[44] Thereafter, the SEC concluded that conspiracy theories about the event were unfounded.[46][47]
In January 2026, Griffin partnered with Goldman Properties to spend at least $180 million for an office building in theWynwood creative district, expanding Citadel's footprint in Miami.[48][49]
Philanthropy
Griffin is a large private donor to charities and nonprofit organizations, having donated over $2 billion to charities so far.[50][51] In September 2023, he established Griffin Catalyst, a platform for his philanthropic and civic work.[51] The organization serves as an umbrella for his various efforts.[52]
In July 2007, Griffin donated a $19 million addition to theArt Institute of Chicago designed byRenzo Piano and namedKenneth and Anne Griffin Court.[55] One of his paintings byPaul Cézanne was loaned to the institute.[7]
Griffin contributed to theArt Institute of Chicago[10] and resigned from its board in 2022.[56] He serves on the board of trustees at theWhitney Museum of American Art in New York, whose lobby bears his name: Kenneth C. Griffin Hall.[57] In February 2015, Griffin donated $10 million to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago to create the Griffin Galleries of Contemporary Art.[54][58]
In December 2021, Griffin gave $5 million to support the construction of Miami's 10-mile linear park and urban trailThe Underline.[60] In 2022, he created the Ukraine Math and Science Achievement Fund with $3 million, which supports youngUkrainian refugees studying atCambridge University.[61] In May 2022, he gave $5 million to help launch the Miami Disaster Resilience Fund, which prepares the city for disasters like hurricanes.[62] In April 2024, thePreservation Foundation of Palm Beach announced a $7 million gift from Griffin. The money is to be used to support the support the restoration ofPhipps Ocean Park, expand community education, and increase accessibility.[63]
In 2011, he worked withUniversity of Chicago economics professorJohn A. List to test whether investment in teachers or in parents produces better student performance outcomes.[70]
At the beginning of 2014, Griffin made a $150 million donation to the financial aid program atHarvard University, hisalma mater, the largest single donation ever made to the institution at the time.[71][72] In 2014, he was elected to a five-year term on theUniversity of Chicago's board of trustees. He is also a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and the civic committee of theCommercial Club of Chicago.[73] Griffin is the vice chairman of theChicago Public Education Fund.[71]
In October 2017, Griffin's charitable fund donated $1 million to theObama Foundation.[74][75] In November 2017, Griffin's charitable fund made a $125 million gift to support the Department of Economics of the University of Chicago, renamed the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics.[76]
In October 2019, Griffin's charitable fund announced a $125 million gift to theMuseum of Science and Industry in Chicago, the largest gift in the museum's history. The museum was renamed the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry.[78][79]
In April 2021, he donated $5 million to an initiative to provide Internet access to students inMiami.[80] In November 2021, Griffin outbid a group of crypto investors to purchase the last privately held copy of theUnited States Constitution at auction for $43.2 million. Griffin said, "I intend to ensure that this copy of our Constitution will be available for all Americans and visitors to view and appreciate in our museums and other public spaces", with plans to display it first at theCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas.[81][82]
In March 2022, Griffin donated $40 million to the American Museum of Natural History in New York to help complete the 230,000 square foot renovation.[83] In July 2022, he donated $130 million to Chicago nonprofits before his move to Florida.[84] In October 2022, Griffin donated $250,000 to a Miami scholarship program for STEM students, his first donation since moving Citadel's headquarters there.[85]
Griffin, theCarnegie Corporation of New York, and theWalton Family Foundation have funded The Education Recovery Scorecard, an analysis of pandemic learning loss released in October 2022 that uses local and national test score data to map changes in student performance.[86]
In July 2020, Griffin donated $10 million to the U.S. Navy SEAL Foundation. The gift will support the expansion of resiliency programming for children, fund a scholarship program for higher education, and support other programs forNavy SEALs and their families.[93] In November 2023, he donated $30 million to theNational Medal of Honor Museum Foundation to support the construction of a museum inArlington, Texas, honoring the recipients of themedal. The museum will include a theater and a conference center to provide national educational programming.[94]
Poverty
Griffin supported the University of Chicago's Center for Urban School Improvement, a program encouraging the construction of an inner-city charter high school,[7] and contributed to theLurie Children's Hospital.[95]
In May 2022, The University of Chicago announced a $25 million donation from Griffin to launch an initiative design to train police managers and prevent neighborhood violence. The funds will aid in launching two community Safety Leadership Academies. The Policing Management Academy aims to professionalize departments by educating their leaders though coaching, accountability and data-driven decision making. This donation came after Griffin's $10 million donation to the Crime Lab in 2018 to implement an early intervention system to investigate citizen complaints.[97]
Religion
Griffin is a member of theFourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago, where he was married.[98][99] In 2011, he donated $11.5 million of the $38.2 million needed to build a new chapel at the church.[98] The modern building is called "The Gratz Center" in honor of Griffin's grandparents.[98]
In March 2024, Griffin announced a gift of $50 million to be used for research at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at theUniversity of Miami. A new 12-story facility is under construction and will be named the Kenneth C. Griffin Cancer Research Building.[103] Also announced in March 2024 was an additional $50 million donation from Griffin's philanthropic organization Griffin Catalyst to theBaptist Health Foundation to expand its Miami Neuroscience Institute.[104] The facility is to be named the Kenneth C. Griffin Center at the Baptist Health Miami Neuroscience Institute.[105]
Political views and activities
In a 2012 interview with theChicago Tribune, Griffin said that the rich actually have too little influence in politics.[106] He identified as aRonald ReaganRepublican. He said the belief "that a larger government is what creates prosperity, that a larger government is what creates good" is wrong.[107]
In a November 2015 interview onCNBC, Griffin said he admiresScott Walker, calling him an "absolute champion of free markets and a champion of smaller government".[108]
In April 2016, because Citadel owned over 1 million shares ofMcDonald's, Griffin was the target of protestors supporting theFight for $15.[109] In May 2017, he praisedDonald Trump's efforts at tax and healthcare reform.[110]
In 2018, it was announced that Griffin had been appointed the national finance chair for the New Republican PAC fuelingRick Scott's Super PAC.[111]
In January 2019, Griffin was singled out byElizabeth Warren on aFacebook post as someone who can pay her Ultra-Millionaire Tax.[115] During a March 2019 interview withDavid Rubenstein, he criticized Warren's proposals, saying, "soaking the rich doesn't work".[116]
In January 2020, Griffin was absent from a signing ceremony for the phase-one trade deal with China at theWhite House, for which Trump criticized him.[117][118]
In September 2020, Griffin wrote anop-ed published in theChicago Tribune stating his opposition toGovernor of IllinoisJ. B. Pritzker's "Fair Tax" proposal, which would change Illinois's income tax from a flat tax to a graduated tax.[119][120] In an October 2020 email toCitadel LLC's Chicago employees, Griffin criticized Pritzker's tax plan and alluded to the possibility of moving his company out of Illinois.[121][122]
AfterHamas'sOctober 7 attacks on Israel in 2023, Griffin contacted theHarvard Corporation leadership to demand a university response, including a condemnation of 30 student groups that signed a letter critical of Israel. He also supported statements made by fellow alumnus and donorBill Ackman that his firm would not hire students who signed the letter.[125] In January 2024, Griffin expressed his discontent with Harvard's educational approach, saying that the university should focus on educating future leaders and problem solvers rather than getting lost in issues likemicroaggressions andDEI.[126] In May 2024, he criticized the "failed education system" foranti-Israel protests on campuses, urging Harvard to "embrace our Western values that have built one of the greatest nations in the world".[127]
Griffin has criticized President Trump's tariffs, saying that the U.S. "is on a slippery slope to crony capitalism".[128]
In January 2026, Griffin suggested the development of artificial intelligence is overhyped, saying that, "You're not going to generate this kind of spend unless you're going to make a promise you're going to profoundly change the world."[129]
Political contributions
Ken Griffin's federal political contributions since 1996
In a 2012 interview, Griffin said that people should be able to make unlimited contributions to politicians, but that the contributions should be public.[130]
Griffin was one of the primary backers of Future 45, a pro-Trump super PAC.[137] After Trump won the 2016 Republican nomination, Griffin did not contribute tohis campaign.[138]
In March 2020, Griffin contributed $1 million to the 1820 PAC created to support the reelection of U.S. SenatorSusan Collins.[140] In late 2020, he donated another $500,000 to the 1820 PAC.[141]
In 2020, Griffin donated $20 million to the Coalition To Stop The Proposed Tax Hike Amendment, a group opposing theIllinois Fair Tax in its 2020 referendum.[120][142] Weeks later, he donated another $26.75 million to the coalition.[143][144] Griffin later donated another $7 million to the group, bringing his total contributions to $53.75 million.[145][146][147] Also that year, he donated $2 million to an anti-retention effort for JusticeThomas L. Kilbride, a Democrat on theSupreme Court of Illinois.[148][149]
In 2021, Griffin donated $5 million toRon DeSantis, the governor of Florida.[153] His donations to DeSantis prompted criticism of a possible conflict of interest when DeSantis began promotingRegeneron Pharmaceuticals' therapeutic treatment forCOVID-19.[154][155][156][157] DeSantis has encouraged suchmonoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19, which can treat people after they get sick and reduce hospitalization.[158] Shares inRegeneron were a $16 million investment by Griffin's hedge fund.[159][160] The fund denied any conflict of interest, noting that it had much larger investments in vaccine makersPfizer andModerna.[154][155][161][157] Likewise, a DeSantis spokesperson said that any suggestion of corruption over this connection to Griffin via Regeneron was illogical.[160] Griffin has at times criticized DeSantis, for example saying, "I don't appreciate Governor DeSantis going after Disney's tax status".[162]
For the 2022 elections, Griffin gave $10 million toCongressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC assisting House Republicans, and $5 million to the super PAC supporting Senate Republicans.[164] On May 5, 2022, he donated $1.5 million toLisa Murkowski through Alaskans for L.I.S.A. (Leadership in a Strong Alaska).[165][166]
In March 2023, Griffin contributed $1 million to a political committee affiliated with Miami MayorFrancis Suarez.[167][168]
Griffin's first wife was Katherine Weingartt, his high-school sweetheart. The couple married in 1991[170] and divorced in 1996.[171][172]
In March 2002, Griffin met his second wife,Anne Dias-Griffin, after being set up on a blind date by a mutual friend.[99][173] The couple married in July 2003[21] and had three children.[174]
In July 2014, Griffin filed a divorce petition inCook County, Illinois, citing "irreconcilable differences" with Dias-Griffin.[175][176] The couple had aprenuptial agreement that governed the split of their assets in the event of divorce.[174][177][178][179] The couple settled their divorce out of court in October 2015, just hours before a public trial over the prenuptial agreement was set to begin.[180][175] As part of the divorce, Griffin paid $11.75 million to buy out his wife's interest in their Chicago penthouse.[181] He and Dias-Griffin maintainjoint custody of their children.[175][182][183][184][185]
Personal residences
In January 2019, Griffin purchased 4 unfurnished floors at220 Central Park South (pictured) for $238 million, breaking the record for the most expensive home ever sold in the United States.
Griffin owns personal residences valued at more than $1 billion.[186] Since 2009, he has purchased multiple residences, mostly in the U.S., but also in England. Some of Griffin's real estate purchases were inMiami, Florida;Palm Beach, Florida;New York City;Southampton, New York; andLondon, England.[187] Several broke records, such as the 2019 purchase of 24,000 square-feet on three floors at220 Central Park South for $238 million, the most expensive residential sale ever closed in U.S. history,[188] and his 2023 purchase of theCoconut Grove Arsht estate in Miami, which set a Miami-Dade County record at the time.[189]
In October 2025, Griffin proposed a private megayacht marina onMiami Beach's Terminal Island.[190] Designed at 30,000 square feet, the marina would be part of a 3.7-acre property with berth spaces for six superyachts, along with pools, pickleball courts, and facilities for crew.[191] It was approved in November 2025.[192]
In 1999, he purchasedPaul Cézanne's 1893 paintingCurtain, Jug and Fruit Bowl for a reported record $60 million for a Cézanne at the time.[10]
In October 2006, he purchasedFalse Start by artistJasper Johns for $80 million fromDavid Geffen.[196] In 2015, he purchased Gerhard Richter's 1986 painting Abstract Picture, 599 for $46 million.[193]
In September 2015, in the largest private art deal ever, he purchased two paintings from Geffen for $500 million:Willem de Kooning's 1955 oil paintingInterchange for $300 million, andJackson Pollock's 1948 paintingNumber 17A for $200 million.[197][198]
Griffin owns two private jets: a 2001Bombardier Global Express valued at $9.5 million and a $50 million 2012 Bombardier Global 6000.[203]
Withdrawn fraud accusation
In 2006, Rush E. Simonson, claiming to be Griffin's mentor, filed a fraud case against Griffin, alleging that he was entitled to a percentage of Citadel's profits for creating a computer program upon which Citadel was founded.[204][205] In court filings, Simonson said that he first befriended Griffin in 1982 as a computer salesman. The two struck up a business partnership in convertible-arbitrage. Griffin provided the trading savvy, working both out of his Harvard dorm room and at home in Florida, while Simonson allegedly created the computer program that served as its technological backbone. As Griffin and Simonson began to unwind their partnership, the suit claimed, Griffin instead began to lay the foundations of what would become Citadel. In doing so, Griffin allegedly improperly took the program that Simonson had created. In 2007, Simonson dropped the lawsuit and apologized to Griffin.[206][207]
In popular culture
Nick Offerman portrays Griffin in the 2023 filmDumb Money, a biographical drama about the GameStop short squeeze. Griffin said the original script contained many fabrications, and he coordinated withSony Pictures to correct some inaccuracies before its release, but he still finds aspects of the film to be sensationalized.[208][209]
