FOX Business Madison Alworth reports on Citadel CEO Ken Griffin reaffirming his plans to move his company to Miami from New York City, driven by a desire for a state that embraces business in ‘Varney & Co.’ Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin is making the largest single donation in the history of higher education, giving $3 billion to Carnegie Mellon University to expand its Pittsburgh campus and build a new campus in Miami. The Citadel founder and CEO’s gift includes $1 billion for Carnegie Mellon’s Pittsburgh campus, including $500 million for its College of Computer Science, which will be renamed the Kenneth C. Griffin School of Computer Science. The remaining $500 million will provide “flexible” funding for the university’s “highest priorities,” according to Carnegie Mellon. The other $2 billion will fund Miami’s Carnegie Mellon University, a new 35-acre campus in the city’s Wynwood neighborhood. KEN GRIFFIN’S NYC SKYSCRAPER MOVES FORWARD DESPITE CLASH WITH MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel, is making the largest single donation in the history of higher education. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images) The Miami campus will be organized around addressing major “societal challenges,” with a focus on human health, national security, energy and climate resilience, and advanced manufacturing. Once completed, the campus is expected to house more than 3,500 undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students. students, almost 300 teachers and more than 600 employees. Construction is expected to begin in 2027. It aims to begin enrolling students in 2028, pending regulatory approvals, according to Carnegie Mellon. “I believe it is important to support institutions of excellence in our country, and that when we support an institution that achieves excellence, we both set the bar higher for other institutions across the country and around the world,” Ken Griffin said in a statement. CITADEL’S KEN GRIFFIN TELLS SOCIALIST POLITICIANS TO ‘READ A DAMN HISTORY BOOK’ AS WALL STREET FLEES NEW YORK The donation includes $1 billion for Carnegie Mellon’s campus in Pittsburgh. (Robert Knopes/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) “I believe in Carnegie Mellon because they have done extraordinary work in so many fields. What we are about to undertake in Miami will create one of the great higher education stories of our lifetime,” Griffin added. According to Carnegie Mellon, Griffin’s donation is both the largest individual donation ever made to an institution of higher education and the largest philanthropic contribution of his career. Griffin, whose philanthropy has focused on education, expanding opportunity and health sciences initiatives, will also join Carnegie Mellon’s Board of Trustees, according to the announcement. “We are deeply grateful to Ken Griffin for his extraordinary vision, partnership and belief in what Carnegie Mellon can achieve,” Carnegie Mellon University President Farnam Jahanian said in a statement. Mellon University Miami, a new 35-acre campus in the city’s Wynwood neighborhood. (Carnegie Mellon University) GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE The gift is Griffin’s latest major investment in South Florida. Citadel moved its headquarters from Chicago to Miami in 2022, and Griffin has continued to expand the company’s presence in the city. More recently, Citadel unveiled plans to expand its future headquarters in Brickell with a 300-unit apartment tower and a parking garage. FOX Business’ Robert McGreevy contributed to this report.
