Ken Griffin pledges $3 billion to Carnegie Mellon University in 'historic' gift

Citadel CEO Ken Griffin announced Wednesday that he has committed $3 billion to Carnegie Mellon University, including $2 billion in funding to establish a new Miami campus.

The $3 billion pledge is the "largest individual gift in higher education history," according to a statement from the university, which called the gift "historic." The previous record was a $2 billion gift by Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife Penny to Oregon Health & Science University in August 2025.

Griffin, who is worth $57.5 billion by Bloomberg's estimate, will join Carnegie Mellon's board of trustees.

"The opportunity to bring Carnegie Mellon to Miami places our city at the heart of humanistic and scientific advancement and amplifies the University's international reach and impact," Griffin said in a release. "CMU Miami will cultivate the talent, knowledge, and expertise to launch new enterprises, contribute to Miami's economy and community, and advance the prosperity of our nation."

Previously, the hedge fund billionaire's largest donation was $300 million to Harvard University, his alma mater, in 2023. Griffin also contributed $125 million to the University of Chicago in 2017 when Citadel was still headquartered in the Windy City.

Since he moved Citadel's headquarters to Miami in 2022, citing concerns about crime in Chicago, he has become a vocal Miami booster, touting Florida's business-friendly policies, low taxes, and quality of life.

"It's a state that is prospering," he said at a CNBC conference in 2022. "It's really fun to be in an environment where people are embracing the future. They're hopeful about the future."

In the past four years, Griffin has become a prolific philanthropist in South Florida. He's made gifts of $50 million apiece to the University of Miami's cancer center, the Baptist Health Foundation's neuroscience institute, and Success Academy, to fund the charter school network's expansion to Miami.

Carnegie Mellon's new Miami campus will span 35 acres in Wynwood, a neighborhood known for its art scene. Construction is slated to begin in 2027. The university expects to start enrolling students in 2028 and to support more than 3,500 students once the campus is complete.

The new campus's academic program will be organized around addressing societal challenges such as climate resilience and national security rather than academic majors, according to the release.

Griffin has been critical of leadership at elite universities, including his alma mater. In 2024, Griffin told CNBC's Leslie Picker that he had paused donations to Harvard over the university's response to antisemitism on campus and he also took verbal aim at top colleges.

"Are we going to educate the future members of the House and the Senate and the leaders of IBM? Or are we going to educate a group of young men and women who are just caught up in a rhetoric of oppressor and oppressee and this is not fair and frankly just like whiny snowflakes?" Griffin said.