Ken Griffin’s Citadel Group broke all previous records for mutual fund earnings, much to the satisfaction of its clients last year. In particular, he made $16 billion over the previous record set by John Paulson, with $15.6 billion he made from the famous mortgage short sale in 2007 (a stockbroker also known for his positions in Greek bonds during the debt crisis). Citadel, which manages $54 billion in assets, generated a 38.1% return on its core investment funds as well as significant revenue from its other products last year, with a total after-fee profit for customers of $16 billion. according to industry investment data. compiled by LCH Investments Edmond de Rothschild.

Citadel’s earnings are attributed to its stock and bond betting as the bond markets in particular saw massive sell-offs, offering very good trading opportunities for long-term fund managers. In fact, the company had a total trading profit of $28 billion, which means it charged $12 billion in fees and commissions from its customers. This year Ken Griffin’s Citadel ousted Ray Dalio from Bridgewater, who had held the title of the industry’s most successful conglomerate for seven years and topped the corresponding LCH Investments list.

In a game of fate and history, the previous record for highest profit, broken by Ken Griffin, was then set by Paulson during a crisis that was particularly hard on the Citadel. In fact, in 2008 the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. The global financial crisis showed that Griffin was over-leveraging, as for every dollar customers gave to Citadel, she borrowed and invested $8. Due to such high leverage, the company suffered from the crisis, losing at least half of the funds entrusted to it by customers within 15 weeks. The situation was so dire that there were rumors in the market at the time that the Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) was preparing to bail out Citadel.

In an effort to survive, its founder resorted to desperation after he “locked up” his investment funds, effectively forbidding his clients from withdrawing their money for 10 months.

This year, Citadel ousted Bridgewater’s Ray Dalio, who had held the title of the most successful band in the industry for seven years.

It took exactly three years and 17 days for Citadel to return the lost investor funds. “Ken Griffin learned a lot about hedging during the 2008 financial crisis and has a very disciplined approach to risk,” David Williams of Williams Trading now explains to the Financial Times.

As usual, Ken Griffin once again generously rewarded his employees for the work of Citadel. In particular, at the end of 2022, he invited all employees along with their families on a three-day trip to the Wal Disney theme park in Florida. The fund manager personally paid all the expenses for 10,000 people, and there were more than 2,500 children among the guests. Flights from cities like New York, Houston, Paris, and Zurich, hotels, theme park tickets, and meals were all paid for by him. The three-day program even included a Coldplay concert.

Although Ken Griffin has a reputation for being tough, he is used to such grand gestures of generosity towards his employees. For Citadel’s 25th anniversary, he paid out of his own pocket to invite singer Katy Perry and threw another party with the band Maroon 5 to reward his employees for their hard work.

BLOOMBERG, FINANCIAL TIMES MONEYREVIEW.GR.