Billionaire Ken Griffin scales back NYC jobs in response to Mamdani’s ‘tax the rich’ antics — sparking fears wealthy exodus has begun

There they go, Zo!

Hedge fund titan Ken Griffin revealed this week he’s scaling back jobs in the Big Apple as a “direct consequence” of Zohran Mamdani’s “tax the rich” antics — stoking fears that the well-to-do are starting to flee the socialist mayor and taking their cash with them.

Mamdani poked the bearish billionaire in a recent social media video that used Griffin’s record-breaking $238 million Midtown penthouse as a backdrop to drum up support for a proposed tax on luxury second homes in the city.

An appalled Griffin first threatened to scrap a $6 billion Park Avenue development for his Citadel hedge fund, then told CNBC on Tuesday that the “creepy” video spurred him to expand his firm’s hub in Florida.

“We will add far more jobs in Miami over the next decade as an immediate and direct consequence of the mayor’s poor decision here with respect to his posting of that video,” Griffin said.

Griffin’s rich reprisal is exactly the pull-up-the-stakes move that at many influential New Yorker leaders, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, have publicly and privately warned Mamdani’s rabble-rousing will inspire.

Mamdani may find his desire to stick it to the rich will leave fewer of them to tax in New York City, warned John Ketcham, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

“New York City is losing its competitive edge and Mayor Mamdani makes it far less competitive,” he said.

“Investors and job creators have options and they will go where they’re treated well. Increasingly New York City has treated them inhospitably. New York City leaders have assumed they can’t do business elsewhere, even though we have seen in the last several years a dramatic expansion of the financial sector’s activities in states like Florida and Texas.”

The mayor’s attack on Griffin has also heightened concerns among executives at Apollo Global Management — a $900 billion Wall Street asset manager — that Mamdani is stoking an anti-business atmosphere.

Apollo execs have decided to open new hub in either Florida or Texas, with 1,000 employees — in line with its headcount in New York.

“The golden goose of New York City is heading south in Spirit Airlines,” joked James “Cadillac” McMahon, a pro-business lobbyist.

“Without finance jobs Manhattan is a very expensive mall,” said Zilvinas Silenas, president of Empire Center for Public Policy.

“It’s going to be a lot less money collected. One percent of New York’s taxpayers bring in half of all the income revenue. These finance jobs are why people come to New York. All the sudden these jobs go away New York is going to low some of its luster and some of its spirit.”

Mamdani’s rhetoric risks the loss of 2,700 jobs in the financial industry and $168 million in state and city tax revenue every year, the pro-business group Partnership for New York City estimates.

Apollo paid roughly $1.28 billion in total income taxes during 2025, according to the company.

Citadel executives contended that Griffin, along with the firm’s principals and team members, have paid nearly $2.3 billion in city and state taxes over the past five years.

And Griffin himself has directed $650 million in charitable gifts toward institutions ranging from the Robin Hood Foundation, Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital for Special Surgery, Success Academy charter schools, MoMA and more.

Citadel’s potential escape from New York mirrors Griffin’s famous falling out with Chicago.

Griffin decamped Citadel’s headquarters from the Windy City in 2022 to Miami over his concerns with crime and dissatisfaction with city and state leaders. He acknowledged the parallels during his CNBC interview.

“I think looking at what Mamdani just did to me, and more broadly is doing to the city of New York, is triggering of the trauma I went through in Chicago,” he said. “Chicago went through a renaissance during most of my 30 years there, and then under the leadership of J.B. Pritzker, Lori Lightfoot, and the current mayor, has just devolved into a state that has lost its way.”

Citadel’s massive expansion along Park Avenue likely will go forward, but it’s a topic of internal debate, Griffin said. He said the company also decided to expand its Miami footprint in recent days.

“The only decision that we have made with no regrets in the last few days is to expand the size of our office footprint in our new Miami headquarters,” he said. 

“That leaves us with the fact that we went to Miami and revised our building plan to make it a bigger office building.”

Griffin has been talking up Miami as a potential new Wall Street for years, long before Mamdani’s rise from little-known state Assembly member to ascendent socialist mayor.

“Miami, I think, represents the future of America,” Griffin said during 2023.

The dustup left many New York leaders calling for Mamdani to try to patch things up with Griffin.

“Mayors make mistakes in the first few months of their term, but he can crater our economy,” one Democratic lawmaker said. “He single-handedly caused the largest loss of jobs (with that video).”

Former Mayor Eric Adams called it “bad policy” to scare off millionaires and billionaires.

“The video was irresponsible, and the Mayor should do the right thing and apologize,” he posted on X.

“I am going to call (Griffin) to let him know the Mayor’s video does not reflect the sentiments of the majority of New Yorkers, and ask him to reconsider.”

When asked about Griffin’s comments, Mamdani on Wednesday responded with a word salad-filled dodge.

“I want all New Yorkers to succeed — that includes business owners and entrepreneurs who create good-paying jobs, including Ken Griffin,” he said during an unrelated event.

“That does not negate the fact, however, that our tax system is fundamentally broken. It rewards extreme wealth while working people are pushed to the brink. If we want the city to be affordable, we need meaningful tax reform that includes the wealthiest New Yorkers paying their fair share.”