Finance · Profile from Finance Research Companion
Citadel LLC
The Miami-based multi-strategy hedge fund that Ken Griffin founded in Chicago in 1990 with ~$4.6m, which nearly collapsed in 2008 when its flagship funds lost ~55% and it suspended redemptions, then rebuilt itself into the most profitable hedge-fund manager in history: by the end of 2025 it had made ~$90.4bn of net gains for investors since inception, more than any other manager (LCH Investments). It runs hundreds of semi-independent portfolio-manager teams ("pods") across equities, fixed income and macro, commodities, credit and quantitative strategies, under tight central risk limits, and charges investors not "2 and 20" but a pass-through of almost all its costs, mostly pay, plus a performance fee. It is legally separate from the market maker Citadel Securities, which Griffin also controls. Its record 2022 profit (~$16bn) held the industry record until 2025; it now hands billions of profit back to investors each year to keep its assets near ~$65–70bn.
At a glance
- Founded
- 1990, Chicago, by Kenneth C. Griffin, as Wellington Financial Group (named after its first fund); renamed Citadel in 1994; later Citadel Investment Group, then Citadel LLC (verify year of the final rename)
- Founder
- Ken Griffin (born 1968), who began trading convertible bonds from his Harvard dormitory in 1987; early backing from Chicago fund-of-funds investor Frank Meyer of Glenwood Partners (reported)
- Headquarters
- Miami (Southeast Financial Center, pending a planned tower on Brickell Bay Drive; move announced 23 June 2022); major offices in New York (including a planned tower at 350 Park Avenue), Chicago, Greenwich, London, Hong Kong and elsewhere
- Ownership / structure
- Private. Griffin owns the large majority of the management company (~85%, reported). Investors hold interests in the funds; Citadel's own employees and Griffin are among the largest investors in them (reported). Legally separate from Citadel Securities, with information barriers
- Leadership (2026)
- Ken Griffin, founder and CEO, co-CIO; Gerald Beeson, chief operating officer; Pablo Salame, co-CIO (reported, verify title); business heads for Equities, Fixed Income and Macro, Commodities, Credit and Convertibles, and Global Quantitative Strategies
- Segment
- Asset manager (hedge fund): multi-strategy, multi-manager
- Scale
- AUM ~$66bn at mid-2025 and ~$72bn late 2025, falling to ~$67bn at the start of 2026 after ~$5bn of profits were returned (CNBC, reported). ~3,100+ employees (2024, reported)
- Returns
- Wellington (flagship): ~-55% (2008), ~+62% (2009), ~+38.1% (2022), ~+15.3% (2023), ~+15.1% (2024), ~+10.2% (2025), ~+13.4% to September 2026 (all reported; Citadel does not publish them)
- Fees
- Pass-through of operating costs (chiefly portfolio-manager and staff compensation) plus a performance fee; reported to total ~$24.5bn of pass-through expenses and fees against ~$56.8bn of gross gains in the main funds from 2021 to September 2024 (bond prospectus, Bloomberg, reported)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding and convertible arbitrage (1990); investor lock-ups and the post-LTCM buying (1998); Amaranth energy book, investment-grade bonds and the E*Trade rescue (2006–07); the 2008 near-death and redemption gate; the climb back to the high-water mark and the multi-strategy rebuild (2009–12); the Melvin Capital investment (2021); the Miami move and the record $16bn year (2022); returning profits and pass-through fees (2023–26)
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1990
Founding and Convertible Arbitrage
Founding
1998
Investor Lock Ups and the LTCM Opportunity
Funding / pivot (capital structure); opportunistic buying in a crisis
2006
Amaranth Bonds and the ETrade Rescue
Acquisition (distressed portfolios) / funding (bond issue) / strategic investment
2008
Near Death and the Redemption Gate
Failure (near-collapse) / restructuring
2012
High Water Mark and Multi Strategy Rebuild
Restructuring (strategy and organisation)
2021
Melvin Capital Investment
Investment (rescue capital into another hedge fund) / controversy
2022
Miami Move and the Record 16bn Year
Relocation (headquarters) / performance record
2023
Returning Profits and Pass Through Fees
Pricing change / capacity management