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Topics: US News, Disney, Disneyland
Rachel Lang
Topics: US News, Disney, Disneyland
Citadel CEO and founder Ken Griffin has given his employees one hell of a thank you after an epic year.
The billionaire boss has reached into his own rather deep pockets in order to pay for 10,000 staff and their families to descend on Florida's Walt Disney World for three days.
Well, we have to say he has well and truly earned the title of 'best boss ever'. Seriously, we challenge you to find a boss who has done something cooler.
Yeah, you can't.
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The hedge fund bigwig is worth about USD$31.7 billion ($AUD47.1 billion, £25.9 billion), according to the Forbes Rich List. That makes him the 40th richest person in the world.
So, while we imagine putting on such an extravaganza for the entire office would have been an expensive undertaking, he can clearly afford to cough up cash for his workers... and then some.
Citadel spokesman Zia Ahmed revealed the billionaire footed the bill for airfares from New York, Houston, Paris, Zurich and other cities.
He also paid for hotels, park tickets and meals, which ranged from lamb chops to sushi and paella.
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Griffin hired Disney World exclusively for Citadel to use and also paid for Coldplay and Carly Rae Jepsen to play with Diplo on the DJ decks.
The 54-year-old billionaire thanked his staff for a bumper year of hard work and high returns.
"We have built the most extraordinary team not only in our history, but also in the history of finance," Griffin told the crowd, as per the New York Post.
"We have an incredible future ahead of us - and I look forward to the chapters yet to be written."
As Wall Street suffers after a tumultuous year, this was Griffin's way to thank all of his hard workers for turning things on its head, with Citadel recording blockbuster returns.
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This year is shaping up to be a record for Citadel and Citadel Securities, Ahmed confirmed to Reuters.
The hedge fund firm manages a whopping $59 billion ($AUD87.6 billion, £48.3 billion) in assets, which is an even higher figure than Griffin's bloated net worth.
In a massive contrast to the rest of Wall Street, Citadel told its investors its flagship Wellington fund returned roughly 32 per cent through to the end of November.
The Citadel Global Fixed Income Fund is also up a huge 28.1 per cent for the year and the Citadel Tactical Trading is up 22.4 per cent.
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Citadel Equities Fund is also up, seeing an increase of 17.8 per cent as well, an investor told Reuters.
The hedge fund has left the rest of New York's financial district in the dust, with the average loss at about 4 per cent for the other financial players in Lower Manhattan.
The benchmark US S&P 500 stock index has plunged a massive 16 per cent as the Federal Reserve wrestles with high inflation and looks down the barrel of a potential recession in the US.