Ken Griffin's $3B Carnegie Mellon donation is a loss for NYC

Key Points:

• Hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin pledged $3 billion to Carnegie Mellon University, including $2 billion for a new Miami campus and $1 billion for the Pittsburgh campus, but allocated no funds to the Manhattan campus amid tensions with New York City's mayor.
• Steve Fulop, head of Partnership for New York City, described Griffin’s Miami donation as a loss for New York, linking it to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s promotion of a controversial pied-à-terre tax targeting wealthy second-home owners like Griffin.
• Fulop criticized Mamdani’s approach, including the use of influencers to potentially smear business leaders, calling such tactics inappropriate, especially given recent concerns about political violence and mental health.
• The pied-à-terre tax, enacted to target expensive second homes, faced legal challenges after a judge ruled the city improperly published personal information, forcing a restart of the tax rollout and an appeal by city lawyers.
• Fulop warned that financial firms are attracted to states like Texas, posing a risk to New York’s economy, which heavily depends on the securities industry for tax revenue and jobs.