NYC business owner kickstarts million dollar campaign to combat Mamdani-driven business exodus

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New York’s political and financial leaders have launched efforts to combat Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s policies that they say have driven multiple billionaires to look elsewhere for their business homes.

After Mamdani named Citadel LLC CEO and owner Ken Griffin in an advertisement for a new tax on second homes in the city, Griffin publicly rebuked him as “creepy.”

The COO of Citadel then indicated in a letter to employees that the company may not move forward with plans to continue a $6 billion renovation of a new Midtown Manhattan office skyscraper.

“What the mayor of New York has made clear to my partners… and principally my New York partners… is that we need to double down on our bet in Miami, because we want to be in a state that embraces business, that embraces education, that embraces personal freedom and liberty, and that embraces people having an opportunity to live the American Dream,” Griffin said during the Milken Institute Global Conference in New York City on Tuesday.

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Billionaire Ken Griffin listens to a question from an audience member at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Now, local business leaders are pledging time and money into a campaign hoping to keep business in the Big Apple.

Andrew Murstein, founder of Medallion Financial Corp., launched Operation Boomerang in an effort to lure defectors back to New York.

Murstein pledged $1 million of his own money into the effort, which will see him sending New York hot dogs, bagels and Katz’s Deli to businesses that fled to Florida, he told the New York Post.

“The last 10 years with mayors and governors, those things pass, and they should be in it for the long run,” he told the Post. “I’m trying to convince them not to abandon ship. Whatever it takes.”

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Murstein also added that he’s going to leverage his initial contribution into the campaign to raise more money, which he anticipates will net the project between $20 million and $30 million, according to the Post.

Former Mayor Eric Adams also lent his voice to re-luring efforts, imploring Griffin to “stand your ground,” in a post on X.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams signing executive orders with Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani standing nearby

Mamdani’s attacks on the rich have even spooked his own employees, according to the Post’s sources.

“The mayor’s office is feeling pressure around this, and they are looking for ways to change the narrative around business,” an anonymous local business leader reportedly told the Post.

“They’re in a pickle because he’s hearing all the business leaders are looking for exit strategies now and Mamdani needs money and needs to keep his base happy,” the source allegedly continued.

A side by side photo of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Ken Griffin.

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“This might be an inflection point because NYC is already a welfare state supported by very few people at the top who can leave,” the source concluded, per the Post.

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