Citadel CEO Ken Griffin speaks during the Semafor World Economy Summit 2025 at Conrad Washington on April 23, 2025 in Washington, DC. Getty Images Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s “tax the rich” posturing just cost the city some good jobs, significant economic activity and hefty tax revenue from two power players — Citadel and Apollo Global Management.
Rather than just keep fleeing, business leaders should fight to save capitalism here, so their companies can stay.
That is: Help the public see how much it benefits from their businesses being here before they go away.
On Tuesday, Citadel CEO Ken Griffin confirmed his firm is expanding operations in Miami rather than New York, with the call becoming a no-brainer after the mayor boasted of taxing the rich via a video right in front of the billionaire’s home, targeting him by name: “We will add far more jobs” in Miami as a “direct consequence of the mayor’s poor decision here.”
The Citadel boss says he’s “filed a permit” and “added several hundred thousand square feet of new space” in Miami.
Griffin is (understandably) livid that Mamdani’s video put him “in harm’s way,” after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson “was assassinated just blocks from where I live.”
But he also pushed back against this view of businesses and the rich as villains to be squeezed for their cash.
“We want to be in a state that embraces business” and “people having an opportunity to live the American dream — a dream of earned success,” he thundered, not “redistributive handouts that leave people dependent on government” in a way that “takes away dignity.”
Apollo, too, has ruled out a second headquarters here after Mamdani’s attacks on businesses and biz leaders, Charles Gasparino reports.
Some wealth-creators are choosing fight over flight: Steve Roth says Vornado would “stand behind” whoever is mayor, but blasts the phrase “tax the rich” — the battle cry of posers like Mamdani — as “disgusting.”
He also slammed Hizzoner’s video as “ugly,” adding he took it personally: Lefties paint the rich as “evil” or maybe “suckers,” but they’re “the epitome of the American dream.”
Gotham’s capitalist titans need to stand up for themselves: When Mamdani blathers, “I don’t think we should have billionaires,” hold a press conference in front of his house detailing what billionaires do for Gotham — the huge taxes paid personally and by their companies and their employees; the jobs created, the other businesses that exist because they’re here, and so on.
Make the case, too, for free-market enterprise, noting the affluence it’s brought the city (and the world), and how socialism inevitably has led to poverty.
Don’t neglect the moral argument: The lefties want to “tax the rich” out of spite — not just to redistribute their wealth, but to punish them for being successful.
A tougher campaign by business leaders might’ve thwarted Mamdani’s electoral victory, and sent leaders like Gov. Kathy Hochul a needed message.
Learn the lesson, and do better: Mobilize the troops to save New York business and so save New York — if you love this town, don’t give up and hand it to the haters.
