NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) -- Citadel’s Ken Griffin said he’s meeting with Governor Kathy Hochul on Thursday to talk about the future direction of America’s biggest city after a spat with Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s over his $238 million Manhattan penthouse.
Mamdani’s decision to single out the billionaire’s property in his push for a new tax on pricey second homes demonstrated “a profound lack of judgment,” Griffin said on Tuesday at a panel in Norway. “What upset me was the personal attack.”
“Here’s the real question: Is New York going to put their fiscal house in order and run itself from a position of a strong government that’s pro business,” he said at the Norges Bank Investment Management 2026 Investment Conference in Oslo. “Why do Americans think we can do socialism? We have none of that in our DNA.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani arrive for a press conference at Staten Island University Hospital Community Park on April 27, 2026.Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Mamdani mentioned Griffin’s apartment purchase in a video released on April 15, after Hochul announced plans to include a pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes in the state budget. Negotiations over the tax and its structure are ongoing.
Days later, Citadel Chief Operating Officer Gerald Beeson raised the possibility of abandoning a massive effort to expand in New York City, calling Mamdani’s comments “shameful.” The financial behemoth is working on a 62-story development on Park Avenue that will demolish three buildings to make room for a new, nearly 1.9 million square foot skyscraper that would be anchored by Citadel and Citadel Securities — bringing the firms’ growing New York headcount under one roof.“The project – if we move forward – will entail more than $6 billion dollars of spending,” Beeson wrote in a message to employees.
Mamdani later insisted that his push for the new second-homes tax wasn’t “motivated by any one individual,” and called Griffin an “important employer and business leader” in the city.
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