Billionaire Ken Griffin is appalled that New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani used his 24,000-square-foot Manhattan penthouse last week as the backdrop for a tax-the-rich video and that has triggered a subtle threat of re-evaluating investment in the city.
Mamdani was filmed in front of a property Griffin purchased at 220 Central Park South in 2019 for roughly $238 million, a deal that set a record for the highest-priced home ever sold in the U.S.
“We’ve secured a pied-à-terre tax,” Mamdani said in the video posted April 15. “This is an annual fee on luxury properties worth more than $5 million, whose owners do not live full-time in the city. Like for this penthouse, which hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin bought for $238 million.”
In an email sent midday Thursday to employees, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Griffin’s chief operating officer raised the possibility the company might not move forward with a massive new Midtown construction project.
“We are about to commence the redevelopment of 350 Park Avenue, creating 6,000 highly paid construction jobs and supporting the creation of more than 15,000 permanent jobs in mid-town New York,” wrote Gerald Beeson. “The project—if we move forward—will entail more than $6 billion dollars of spending.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul last week offered Mamdani support for his plan to raise taxes on the wealthy with a proposal to tax luxury second homes in New York City. The new tax would help plug the city’s budget deficit.
Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, pledged during his campaign to increase taxes on the city’s millionaires and corporations, although only the governor and state lawmakers have the power to make those changes. Hochul, who is facing re-election this year, had previously opposed the mayor’s proposal.
The email from Griffin’s chief operating officer was sent to employees at hedge-fund firm Citadel and Citadel Securities, Griffin’s market-making businesses. In 2022, Griffin announced the relocation of his company headquarters from Chicago to Miami, now his primary residence.
The mayor’s press office didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Beeson said the mayor’s video suggested he doesn’t appreciate how people like Griffin contribute to the greater good.
“It is shameful that he used Ken’s name as the example of those who supposedly aren’t carrying their fair share of the burdens associated with New York City’s often costly and wasteful spending,” the email said. “In doing so, the mayor has once again manifested the ignorance and disdain of the elite political class towards those who have been consistently committed to building one of the greatest cities in the world.”
Beeson wrote that over the past five years, Citadel “principals and team members (including nonresidents) have paid nearly $2.3 billion dollars in city and state taxes.” He also noted that Griffin has personally directed $650 million in charitable gifts to support New York City.
“We have nearly 2,500 colleagues who have chosen to build their careers here,” Beeson wrote. “We understand that our hard work and success will, on occasion, make us targets for political rhetoric. But it should not diminish the pride we take in building firms that will continue to help New York City thrive for decades ahead.”
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman expressed solidarity with Griffin after Mamdani’s video was posted.
“We should be applauding Ken for spending $238 million in NYC, not attacking him for doing so,” Ackman wrote on social media. “Importantly, non-resident owners of NYC apartments who leave their apartments vacant for much of the year are not a burden to NYC schools, services, or other resources while they drive growth in retail sales, restaurants, theater, and other important drivers of our economy.”
Ackman added: “Ken’s company is a major employer in NYC of very high paying jobs which drive a considerable amount of our tax base. We wouldn’t want him to move even more employees to Miami.”
Write to John McCormick at mccormick.john@wsj.com
