Ken Griffin to Consider Selling Stake in $65 Billion Citadel

• Citadel founder Ken Griffin said Thursday he is “open” to selling a stake in his hedge fund.
• Griffin previously sold a minority stake in his market maker to venture funds Sequoia and Paradigm.
• He said he would look for “a partner who is like Sequoia.”

BlackRock’s potential investment in Izzy Englander’s Millennium may give Citadel founder Ken Griffin pause.

At the Economic Club of New York on Thursday, Griffin praised BlackRock founder Larry Fink for being a “legend in asset management” and said that if an agreement eventually materializes, “it will be very interesting.” The start of talks between BlackRock and multi-strategy rival Millennium was reported by the Financial Times earlier this month.

Asked if he would consider such a move, the billionaire said he was “willing to sell a minority stake,” something Citadel, the $65 billion hedge fund that has become the most profitable firm in industry history, has never done.

“We’re very proud to be a private partnership,” he said, and credits the structure for keeping the firm running smoothly throughout its more than 30 years of existence.

Almost every hedge fund is still owned by its founders and a select group of partners, even longtime industry giants like Citadel, although Griffin may want to sell his stake at the peak. In an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday, he said the extreme growth that has added billions in assets to his and his colleagues’ fund is unlikely to continue.

On Thursday in New York, he flagged the benefits of selling a stake in his market maker Citadel Securities in 2022 to venture capital firms Sequoia and Paradigm for more than $1 billion. The investment valued the company at $22 billion.

He said Sequoia in particular brought “real insight” into how to run a fast-growing company, noting the company’s past investments in Apple and Nvidia before those two companies went public.

Griffin said Sequoia has pushed Citadel Securities to be a leader in the boardroom, making them better.

As for who he’d like to see as a minority shareholder in Citadel, Griffin clearly has his type.

“We will be looking for a partner that is similar to Sequoia,” he said.