‘About to explode’: Billionaires Griffin, Ross push for CEOs to come to Florida
Billionaires Ken Griffin and Stephen Ross think the future is Florida.
That’s why they’re putting $10 million into a recently launched initiative, called Ambition Accelerated, geared toward bringing CEOs and business leaders to South Florida.
Griffin and Ross both spoke at the Wall Street Journal’s WSJ Invest Live event in West Palm Beach this week, selling the strengths of Florida’s Gold Coast, which stretches from Palm Beach to Miami. They highlighted Florida’s low taxes, business-friendly policies and quality of life.
Both men founded their companies elsewhere — Griffin in Chicago and Ross in New York — but have since moved to Florida. Griffin runs a major hedge fund, and Ross runs a real estate company and owns the Miami Dolphins.
Now they’re betting big on the Sunshine State, which they believe is on the rise as a global hub for tech and finance. Both have been critical of the taxes, regulation and cost of living in states like New York, Illinois and California.
“Florida really answers all those things that people are looking for,” Ross said Monday at the Wall Street Journal event. “I think this is a place that is about to explode.”
Griffin and Ross are both major Republican donors. During their remarks this week, Ross held up the state’s conservative politics as one of its strengths, and Griffin criticized New York’s newly elected mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist.
Ambition Accelerated is headed up by pro-business nonprofit The Florida Council of 100 and offers private consultation for people looking to move their businesses or start new ones in Florida. Its website poses questions like, “What if your employees made 10% more every year?”, highlighting that Florida’s constitution prohibits imposing an income tax.
Griffin, the Florida-born CEO and founder of the hedge fund Citadel, moved his company’s headquarters from Chicago to Miami in 2022. Citadel’s plans for a new mixed-use tower in Brickell, which will be home to the company’s offices, were approved in December.
READ MORE: Billionaire CEO gets green light to build a base in Brickell, with public access
Since moving to South Florida, Griffin has donated millions to support healthcare and education in South Florida.
Ross, the founder and chairman of the real estate development firm Related Companies, has long had a presence in South Florida, though Related is headquartered in New York. In 2024, he founded Related Ross, which focuses on Florida real estate. Ross, who graduated from Miami Beach Senior High School, lives in Palm Beach.
Wells Fargo announced in January it was moving its wealth management headquarters to West Palm Beach, driving more buzz about wealthy people leaving New York and other high-tax states for Florida and bringing their money with them. Last month, it was reported that Google co-founder Larry Page had bought more than $170 million worth of property in Coconut Grove, seemingly in response to a proposed billionaire tax in California.
During his opening remarks at the event on Monday, Dow Jones and Company CEO Almar Latour said it’s “no coincidence” the Wall Street Journal chose to host this event in West Palm Beach.
“So many captains of industry have set up shop in this region. Private equity, venture capital, banking, hedge funds, wealth management, crypto,” Latour said. “At least 115 billionaires now call Florida home.”
And both Griffin, 57, and Ross, 85, seem to be in it for the long haul. Griffin told Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Emma Tucker at Tuesday’s event that he plans to live in South Florida for the rest of his life.
During that conversation, Tucker asked Griffin if he would consider running for president one day. He largely sidestepped the question, saying he enjoys the work he’s doing now and already feels he’s been able to influence American politics in his current role. But he didn’t rule the possibility out.
“I like to believe that at a future point my life,” Griffin said, “I will be involved in public service.”
This story was originally published February 4, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
