House of Ken Griffin – The Story of Citadel | A Documentary | FINAiUS

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
The PC gave us computing power at home, the Internet connected us, and mobile let us do it pretty much anywhere. Now, generative AI lets us communicate with technology in our own language using our own senses. But figuring it all out when you're living through it is a totally different story. Welcome to Leading the Shift, a new podcast from Microsoft Azure. I'm your host, Susan Etlinger. In each episode, leaders will share what they're learning to help you navigate all this change with confidence. Please join us.
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**SPEAKER_3** (1:04)
It's just one of the most impressive stories on Wall Street. He's the founder and CEO of Citadel. It's one of the largest alternative asset managers and security dealers in the world.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:14)
It's been a big month for Citadel's Ken Griffin and Real Estate. Hedge Fund Manager purchasing another home this week.

**SPEAKER_5** (1:20)
Only the most expensive one ever sold in the US., just off of Central Park.

**SPEAKER_6** (1:50)
Citadel is among the most successful hedge funds today.

**SPEAKER_7** (1:54)
Ken Griffin's $30 billion Citadel gained 19.4% last year. This is beating out a whole host of other of its rivals.

**SPEAKER_6** (2:03)
That is about $6.6 billion in profit. At the same time, in 2019, Netflix total revenue was $6.4 billion. There are many breeds of hedge fund managers. There are the Samurais who don't strike often, but rarely miss when they do. There are the machines who ruthlessly dig up any traces of profits, big or small. Ken Griffin is a builder of machines. So Griffin started as a quant, but he really doesn't care about any particular strategy. All he wanted was to build a financial company that does whatever it takes to make money.
The son of a project manager for General Electric, Griffin had a passion for mathematics and technology.

**Ken Griffin** (2:50)
I was incredibly fortunate. My father was first generation to go to college. He was one of seven. My grandfather worked on the railroads. My parents always placed great importance in education.

**SPEAKER_6** (3:03)
In high school, he learned computer programming and got a job for IBM. We see that Ken Griffin achieved success at a very young age. Just like a lot of tech entrepreneurs, they started learning to code before computers became popular. It was a competitive advantage for people like Ken Griffin at that time.

**SPEAKER_9** (3:21)
You know, the thing about people of Bill Gates' generation was that they were getting their 10,000 hours in in a discipline before the rest of the world realized that that was the discipline that mattered, right?

**SPEAKER_6** (3:33)
Griffin was also a natural entrepreneur.
In 1986, while barely an 18-year-old, he came out with the idea of selling educational software to schools. He launched a company called Discovery Educational Systems. A few years later, Griffin sold out his shares and made a tidy sum. The company is still in business at West Palm Beach today. At this particular point of Ken Griffin's life, we see all the characteristics of a tech entrepreneur. He was smart. He knew how to code. And he came from a wealthy family. I give them a safety net. Being a smart kid, Griffin never had any doubt about getting into a great college.

**Ken Griffin** (4:13)
My entire professional career, working on probability. In the dark ages of using a typewriter, I typed out about 13 different college applications. I'll get into one of them, hopefully the best I can get into.

**SPEAKER_6** (4:25)
In college, Griffin just choose to pursue whatever interests him the most.
After reading an article arguing that the shares of home shopping network were overpriced, he purchased put options on the stock, hoping to profit from the decline. Options are derivative contracts that behave like insurance policies. A call option gives you an insurance to buy stock at a fixed price before a certain date. A put option contract gives you an insurance to sell the stock at a fixed price before a certain date. Take some time to wrap your head around how options work. But Griffin figured out, as a freshman college, that you could short a stock by purchasing a put option.