
Disney World shut down over the weekend to cater to a billionaire business owner who has a lot of money and a lot to celebrate.

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(Don’t worry; it wasn’t for the entirety of the weekend, and as soon as the celebration was over, it was back to business as usual–for the hedge fund tycoon and for Disney World.)
Last weekend, Citadel Securities founder Ken Griffin treated his employees, their partners, and their children to an all-inclusive spectacular weekend at Disney World. Approximately 10,000 people were in attendance for the celebration weekend–25% of them children.
Griffin, who has an estimated net worth of more than $32 billion, is said to have covered expenses for everyone in attendance, including expenses for each Guest’s hotel accommodations, food, theme park tickets, and more. Griffin also covered expenses for attendees to visit Universal Orlando Resort, and he also paid all of the associated travel expenses, some of which were for employees and guests who live as far away as Toronto, Zurich, and parts of Europe, according to a spokesperson for Citadel Securities, Zia Ahmed.
The exciting weekend was actually a coupling of celebrations–the 20th anniversary celebration for the trading firm Citadel Securities, and the 30th anniversary celebration of the hedge fund Citadel–a belated celebration as Citadel’s 30th anniversary was technically in 2020, and the festivities had to be postponed.
The over-the-top Walt Disney World weekend was also the cherry on top of a wildly successful year for Citadel–one in which the $50 billion hedge fund saw gains of nearly 31% year-to-date, as of November 1, 2022.
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On Friday evening, Griffin’s guests were treated to an exclusive celebration at EPCOT, during which they had the World Discovery section of the park all to themselves, many of them enjoying the new Guardians of the Galaxy: COSMIC REWIND attraction for the first time. And Disney wasn’t the only big player in the massive celebration. In addition to visiting the Disney World Resort and Universal Orlando Resort, Griffin’s guests were also treated to a concert on Saturday, featuring Coldplay, Carly Rae Jepsen, and DJ Diplo.
Citadel’s Disney World/Universal Orlando weekend is just one of the many grand events for which the firm is known. In October this year, the firm hosted a Halloween party for 1,000 people at New York City’s Cipriani eatery. The firm has also bought out Wimbledon matches and invited employees or clients, and recently, the firm even rented out an entire theater for a screening of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.