Finance

Ken Griffin’s flagship hedge fund at Citadel climbs 15.1% in 2024

Published

5 months ago

January 2, 2025

Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel, speaks during The New York Times’ annual DealBook Summit in New York City, Dec. 4, 2024.

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

Billionaire investor Ken Griffin’s handful of hedge funds at Citadel all posted double-digit returns in 2024, led by its tactical trading strategy.

Citadel’s multistrategy Wellington fund, its largest, finished the year up 15.1%, according to a person familiar with the returns. All five strategies used in the flagship fund — commodities, equities, fixed income, credit and quantitative — were positive for the year, the person said.

The Miami-based firm’s tactical trading fund was the standout performer with a 22.3% return for 2024, the person said. Citadel’s equity fund returned roughly 18%, while its global fixed income strategy gained 9.7% last year.

Citadel declined to comment. The hedge fund giant had $66 billion in assets under management as of December.

The stock market just closed out a banner year with the S&P 500 surging 23.3%, building on a gain of 24.2% in 2023. The two-year gain of 53% is the best since the nearly 66% rally in 1997 and 1998.

Griffin recently criticized the steep tariffs President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to implement, saying crony capitalism could be a consequence.

The CEO also said he’s not focused on taking Citadel Securities public in the foreseeable future. The securities firm is a Miami-based market maker founded by the 56-year-old Florida native in 2002.

Finance

Insiders at UnitedHealth are scooping up tarnished shares

Published

1 day ago

May 16, 2025

Business Finance News

Key Points

UnitedHealth Group saw some of its insiders step in and purchase declining shares this week.
Kristen Gil, a director at the firm, bought 3,700 shares worth roughly $1 million on Thursday.
Shares of UnitedHealth plunged nearly 11% to $274.35 on Thursday following a report in The Wall Street Journal that the Department of Justice is conducting a criminal investigation into possible Medicare fraud.

Finance

Federal Reserve will reduce staff by 10% in coming years, Powell memo says

Published

1 day ago

May 16, 2025

Business Finance News

U.S. Federal Reserve in Washington, DC, on January 30, 2024.

Mandel Ngan | Afp | Getty Images

The Federal Reserve will look to reduce its headcount by 10% over the next couple of years, including offering deferred resignation to some older employees, central bank chair Jerome Powell said in a memo.

“Experience here and elsewhere shows that it is healthy for any organization to periodically take a fresh look at its staffing and resources. The Fed has done that from time to time as our work, priorities, or external environment have changed,” Powell said in a memo obtained by CNBC.

The central bank chief added that he has instructed leaders throughout the Fed “to find incremental ways to consolidate functions where appropriate, modernize some business practices, and ensure that we are right-sized and able to meet our statutory mission.” One method for shrinking the staff will be to offer a voluntary deferred resignation program to employees of the Federal Reserve Board who would be fully eligible to retire at the end of 2027.

The central bank said in its 2023 annual report that it had just under 24,000 employees. A 10% reduction would bring that number below 22,000.

The memo comes as the Trump administration has pushed for cost cuts across civil service agencies, spearheaded by Elon Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Musk has previously called the Fed “absurdly overstaffed.” Powell’s memo did not mention Musk or DOGE as a factor in the decision to shrink headcount.

The planned staff cuts were first reported by Bloomberg News.

— CNBC’s Matt Cuddy contributed reporting.