Citadel celebrates banner year at Disney while Wall Street nurses losses By Reuters

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

NEW YORK (Reuters) – For a lot of Wall Avenue, buying and selling this yr has been akin to using a wild curler coaster. For hundreds of workers of Citadel and Citadel Securities, the hedge fund and buying and selling enterprise based by billionaire investor Ken Griffin, the primary weekend of December was spent using precise curler coasters.

Griffin paid out of his personal deep pockets for about 10,000 workers and their households to converge on Walt Disney (NYSE:) World in Florida for 3 days of celebrations within the Magic Kingdom and different theme parks, in line with Citadel spokesman Zia Ahmed.

Griffin picked up the tab for airfare from cities together with New York, Houston, Paris and Zurich and paid for resorts, park tickets and meals — from lamb chops to sushi and paella — to applaud blockbuster returns and main anniversaries.

This yr is shaping as much as be a report for Citadel and Citadel Securities, the spokesman confirmed.

Coldplay, the British rock band that Griffin is particularly keen on, performed at a live performance on Saturday alongside singer Carly Rae Jepsen and Diplo, a DJ.

Information of the celebration was first reported by Insider.

BIG RETURNS

The hedge fund agency, which manages $59 billion in property, informed traders its flagship Wellington fund returned roughly 32% by means of the tip of November, a dramatic distinction to a lot of Wall Avenue and the financial system at giant.

The Citadel World Mounted Earnings Fund is up 28.1% for the yr, whereas Citadel Tactical Buying and selling is up 22.4% and Citadel Equities Fund is up 17.8%, an investor mentioned.

The typical hedge fund has misplaced 4% and the benchmark U.S. inventory index has plunged 16% this yr because the Federal Reserve wrestles with excessive inflation and a possible recession.

Throughout Wall Avenue, corporations are making ready for leaner instances by reducing jobs and bonuses. Many Individuals are combating rising costs for meals, gasoline and rents. After the 2008 monetary disaster, Wall Avenue corporations that had been criticized for his or her excesses have generally shied away from lavish gatherings or held them in personal.

For the 54-year-old Griffin, whose private internet price is estimated at $32 billion, the festivities marked the twentieth anniversary of Citadel Securities and the thirty second anniversary of the hedge fund, whose unique social gathering plans in 2020 had been scuttled by the pandemic. Workers from Asia could have a separate celebration subsequent yr, the spokesman mentioned.

‘INCREDIBLE FUTURE’ AHEAD

“We’ve got constructed essentially the most extraordinary staff not solely in our historical past — but additionally within the historical past of finance,” Griffin informed the group, in line with the spokesman. “We’ve got an unimaginable future forward of us – and I look ahead to the chapters but to be written.”

Citadel has lengthy boasted eye-popping funding returns, however 2022’s features are particularly noteworthy as a result of they coincide with double-digit losses at different large hedge funds, together with Tiger World Administration.

Citadel’s returns additionally topped these of rivals, like DE Shaw’s Composite Fund, which is up 22.5% for the yr, and Millennium Worldwide, which is up 10.2%. Representatives for these corporations didn’t remark.

During the last 5 years, Citadel’s Wellington fund returned 172.2%, in line with an investor, beating the S&P 500’s 68.4% return and the typical 25% return posted by hedge funds.

Florida, the state the place Griffin was born, has turn into critically vital to his enterprise. He introduced plans to relocate the headquarters of the hedge fund and buying and selling agency to Miami from Chicago, Illinois after lengthy criticizing the latter metropolis’s taxes and crime charges.

Throughout the pandemic, Griffin had already moved some operations to Florida by renting out the luxurious 4 Seasons resort in Palm Seaside for enterprise continuity to make sure that a gaggle of merchants had been in their very own bubble to course of trades and supply liquidity to retail and institutional shoppers.

Griffin has donated hundreds of thousands to the humanities, instructional and medical causes. Nearer to residence, the investor wished to deal with workers — and their 2,500 youngsters — to a weekend with Mickey Mouse as a “thanks” for turning Citadel right into a Wall Avenue powerhouse.

On Saturday, Coldplay performed a string of rock hits, together with an anthem that captured the scene.

“This might be para-para-paradise,” the band sang.