Zohran Mamdani has reached out through intermediaries to Ken Griffin after a backlash over a “Tax the Rich” video filmed outside the billionaire’s Manhattan apartment, but Griffin had not called back as of Friday. Mamdani said the outreach was part of a wider effort to sit down with business leaders across New York, even after the two men became locked in a public fight over the clip.
Mamdani, who took office in January, said the invitation to Griffin was not limited to one dispute. “That continues to be an open invitation and it’s part of invitations that I’ve made to a number of business leaders across our city and I’ve appreciated those conversations,” he said, adding that he wants talks to move beyond agreement and into disagreement. “I think what’s critical is that in those conversations, I both share that which you’ve already quoted,” he said. “But also I’m there to listen. I’m there to have a conversation that goes beyond places of agreement but perhaps to places of disagreement.”
The clash began earlier in the week when Mamdani posted a social media video using Griffin’s record-setting $238 million Midtown penthouse as the backdrop for a pitch for a proposed tax on luxury second homes in the city. Griffin called the video “creepy” on CNBC. He also said Citadel would add far more jobs in Miami over the next decade as an “immediate and direct consequence” of the mayor’s decision to post it, and threatened to scrap a $6 billion Park Avenue development by the firm.
The fight has landed at a sensitive moment for New York. Mamdani’s tax-hike campaign has already worried business owners and other city leaders about a possible exodus of companies and high earners, and some analysts warned last week that “quiet quitting” may already be under way in the city’s economy. One finance executive has even launched Operation Boomerang to persuade business peers not to leave. Griffin, through a spokesperson, signaled that the door is still open despite the anger, saying he cares deeply about New York City and welcomes serious conversations about policies that can grow the economy and create more opportunity for all New Yorkers. The same spokesperson said reckless political theater serves no purpose and undermines the future of one of the world’s most important cities.
For now, the public confrontation has not turned into a private truce. Mamdani says the outreach is still pending, Griffin is still not returning the call, and the broader question is whether New York’s mayor and one of its most powerful financiers can turn a fight over a social media video into a conversation about where the city is heading next.
