Steven Roth, chairman and CEO of Vornado Realty Trust—one of New York City’s largest landlords and taxpayers—used his company’s Q1 2026 earnings call on Tuesday to deliver a six-minute rebuke of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, calling his viral “tax the rich” video “irresponsible and dangerous” and comparing the phrase itself to hate speech.
Hours later, Citadel CEO Ken Griffin told CNBC the same video had put him “in harm’s way,” invoking the 2024 assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson that occurred just blocks from his Manhattan home.
The comments from both Roth and Griffin are the turning point of a serious clash between City Hall and New York’s business establishment, with the CEOs personally calling out the new mayor and expressing distaste with the pointed remark at Griffin in his ongoing effort to tax the rich.
A Tax the Rich video on Tax Day
On Tax Day, Mamdani stood outside 220 Central Park South, where Griffin owns a penthouse he bought for $238 million, and announced the city’s first pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes above $5 million…