NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) -- The press release from Zohran Mamdani declaring New York City’s first pied-à-terre tax cited a $238 million penthouse in Midtown bought by one Ken Griffith.
It was a misspelling — the mayor’s office meant to say Citadel founder Ken Griffin — and a sign of how quickly the surprise policy was rolled out. Then Mamdani went a step further, filming a viral video outside the penthouse and calling out the billionaire by name (this time he got it right).
That’s now uniting Wall Street executives and New York’s ultra-wealthy against the 34-year-old mayor, igniting the first significant resistance to his agenda. Even billionaires sympathetic to Democrats questioned his tone, while those that have long opposed Mamdani’s candidacy such as Dan Loeb piled on. What has irked them, they say, wasn’t necessarily the tax itself but Mamdani’s personal attack on one of their own.
Galaxy Digital Inc. founder Mike Novogratz, who supports progressive causes, said the rich should pay more tax, but targeting Griffin was “snarky.”
“When you demonize the rich, they’re a whole lot less willing and desiring to help,” said Novogratz, 61.
Griffin, for his part, went on the offensive — Citadel raised the possibility of abandoning a massive skyscraper redevelopment it’s planning on Park Avenue. And on Thursday afternoon, he sat down with New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
Residential luxury towers along Billionaire's Row in New York.Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
More than a dozen top financial executives and other ultra-rich individuals across the city — some of whom asked for anonymity to discuss their private thinking and to avoid retribution from the mayor’s office — expressed solidarity with Griffin, pointing to his philanthropic endeavors on top of Citadel’s contributions to the city’s economy.
For instance, that proposed 62-story building is expected to contribute $4.5 billion to the local economy and generate 6,200 construction jobs and 15,200 permanent positions.
Griffin, 57, who lives in Miami after leaving Chicago following clashes with Democratic lawmakers in Illinois, has also donated hundreds of millions of dollars to New York institutions such as Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the American Museum of Natural History.
“He built his businesses largely outside NYC and NYC is lucky he is growing it substantially here,” said Lloyd Blankfein, 71, the former chief executive of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. “Ken brings construction investment, high-paying jobs, tax revenue and a remarkable commitment to local philanthropy. Not sure why that pisses off the mayor.”
A representative for Griffin didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The mayor’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Why he would do this I don’t know,” said Ken Langone, 90, a prominent Republican donor who founded Home Depot Inc. “He needs more people to come in like Ken Griffin, not less. All he’s doing, he’s putting the stick right in Ken Griffin’s eye.”
Stan Druckenmiller, 72, founder of hedge fund Duquesne Capital Management, which he now runs as his family office, told Bloomberg in a statement that he has “great respect” for Griffin, while hedge fund manager Roberto Mignone, 54, said “a smart mayor would be visiting his apartment with a thank-you note and keys to the city, rather than a populist mob.”
‘Bad Policy’
To be sure, Mamdani is still popular with the broader New York electorate, which gave him a 48% approval rating on his first 100 days in office versus 30% who disapprove, according to a Marist Poll this month. And it’s unclear if complaints by financiers and ultra-wealthy will mean much to the mayor if it doesn’t result in them taking action such as relocating their families or businesses to other states.
The new tax, which is still being negotiated, aims to raise $500 million for New York City’s budget, which is facing a multibillion-dollar deficit. Mamdani also campaigned with a platform centered on taxing the richest individuals and biggest corporations to pay for expanded social programs like free buses and universal childcare.
Mamdani has already tried to defuse the controversy once, noting in a subsequent press conference that the 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. When asked about the video specifically, he noted that Griffin’s apartment purchase at 220 Central Park South was a fact that was widely reported.
But for some executives, the video was seen as inflammatory in a city where, 17 months ago, UnitedHealthcare’s CEO was shot dead at a midtown Hilton.
“Standing outside someone’s home and naming them by name sets a dangerous precedent and it’s also just bad policy,” said Steve Fulop, 49, chief executive officer of the Partnership for New York City. “New York has real fiscal challenges that demand serious solutions, not political theater.”
Whitney Tilson, a former hedge fund manager who ran against Mamdani in the Democratic primary, said the pied-a-terre charge is more limited than other tax hikes the mayor has pushed for.
“I am not overly concerned that he engaged in a little bit of rhetoric to celebrate passing a very minor tax increase,” said Tilson, 59. “Instead all he got was a little pied-à-terre tax that doesn’t affect a single resident.”
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