Ken Griffin

Craig Barritt—Getty Images for TIME
  • Company/Affiliation
    Citadel
  • Title
    CEO, Co-Chief Investment Officer, and Founder
  • Country/Territory
    U.S.
  • Years on List
    2024, 2025

Ken Griffin founded his hedge fund, Citadel, in 1990 with just $4.6 million, counting his grandmother as an initial investor. Today, at a net worth of around $48 billion, he is one of the world’s richest people. Griffin climbed to the top of the financial world with a sprawling empire beyond his hedge fund, including Citadel Securities, his liquidity and market-making operation that has rewired the technological infrastructure of global markets and earned the backing of Silicon Valley venture capital firms such as Sequoia and Paradigm. Apart from his Wall Street domination, Griffin has carved out a position as a prolific political donor, spending tens of millions of dollars to back Republican candidates across the country in the latest electoral cycle, though he has been an outspoken critic of President Trump’s tariff campaign.