Last week, in celebration of his companies’ anniversaries, one billionaire entrepreneur thanked his employees by picking up the bill for an exciting three-day celebration that included time at two Disney theme parks and a special musical performance by Maroon 5.
Billionaire hedge fund entrepreneur and founder of Citadel and Citadel Securities Ken Griffin knows how to party, and more importantly, he seems to know how to throw a party–especially for his employees. From October 27 to October 29, 1,200 staffers and their family members, including 300 children, were Griffin’s guests at Tokyo Disney Resort, Disney’s theme park resort located in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, just east of Tokyo.
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Griffin reportedly picked up the tab for employees of Citadel Securities’ Asia-based staffers, as well as employees of Citadel in Asia and their respective family members, to visit Disney’s Japanese resort.
Tokyo Disney Resort includes two unique theme parks–Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea–as well as five Disney Resort hotels, a shopping and dining complex called Ikspiari (somewhat similar to Disney Springs at the Walt Disney World Resort and Downtown Disney at Disneyland Resort in California), and a fun and convenient monorail line for easy transportation from one location at the resort to another.
According to Yin Ai, a spokesperson for Citadel, Griffin, who has a reputation for benevolence, paid for employees and their family members to visit the parks in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Citadel Securities and the 30th anniversary of Citadel. The initial festivities had been delayed for more than a year as the coronavirus pandemic and associated restrictions set forth by the local government precluded Citadel’s teams from being able to follow through with Griffin’s original plans.
According to The New York Post, Griffin, who has an estimated net worth of $35 billion, making him the 38th-richest person in the world, also paid for his guests to have access to express passes at Tokyo Disney Resort, allowing them to skip most of the lines for rides and attractions in the Disney theme parks, including Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Big Thunder Mountain, variations of which can also be found at the Walt Disney World Resort in Central Florida.
A Pricey Anniversary Party
Pricing for one-day passes at Tokyo Disney Resort generally cost between 7,900 to 10,900 yen, equivalent to between $52.75 and $72.78, meaning that for 1,200 adults to spend just one day at one of Disney’s Tokyo theme parks, Griffin had to pay more than $87,000, including fast passes for each guest.
Each attendee received tickets to Tokyo Disney Resort and was also treated to musical performances by the band Maroon 5 and musician Calvin Harris. Griffin gave a celebratory speech during the celebration on Saturday just before he introduced Maroon 5 to the group from the Citadel companies.
A Celebration of Citadel’s People
“Today, the range of talent we have brought together is simply astonishing,” Griffin said of his employees. “We’ve created not one but two firms at the forefront of the industry. Together, we have imagined and built the future of finance.”
The extravagant celebration commemorated Citadel’s 30th anniversary, which took place in 2020, as well as Citadel Securities’ 20th anniversary, which took place last year. The company was unable to celebrate Citadel’s 30th anniversary in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In December 2022, Griffin treated his employees in the United States, Canada, and Europe to a spectacular all-inclusive celebratory weekend, which included a trip to Disney World and Universal Studios in Central Florida, as well as a musical performance with the band Coldplay. Nearly 10,000 employees and their family members attended the celebration, and more than 2,500 of those were children of Griffin’s employees.
