ken griffin citadel In a letter to clients on Friday, the firm first mentioned its purchase of assets from Leopold Aschenbrenner’s situational awareness hedge fund.
Griffin told clients that Citadel had eliminated more than 80% of the total risk from the original portfolio they purchased by executing more than 100 block trades with a market value of more than $4 billion, according to a letter obtained by CNBC’s Sarah Eisen.
In his letter, Griffin detailed that Citadel entered into discussions with Situational Awareness on July 29 to acquire a portion of the fund’s holdings. The next day, CNBC’s David Faber reported that Situational Awareness faced huge losses and was forced to sell all of its public stock positions. It was later revealed that Citadel was the buyer of the assets.
“A transaction of this magnitude could not have been completed without the exceptional cooperation of the trading and prime brokerage teams at the banks serving both companies,” Griffin said in a letter to clients Friday. “We appreciate your focused efforts to quickly transfer our portfolio.”
Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of multinational hedge fund Citadel, speaks at the 29th Milken Institute Global Conference at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California on May 5, 2026.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
Griffin also acknowledged that the firm’s flagship multi-strategy Wellington fund returned 5.94% in July, the fund’s best monthly performance since 2022, CNBC previously reported.
The hedge fund’s situational awareness focused its positions on trading in artificial intelligence, reflecting the 25-year-old Aschenbrenner’s belief that this technology will fundamentally change the world and the economy. At the same time, the fund held short positions in some software companies, areas investors feared could be disrupted by AI.
However, AI trading was weak in June and July, even as the broader index was flat, with Situational Awareness holding significant stakes in the following stocks: sandisk and bloom energyfell by more than 50%. At the same time, the software name will be displayed, such as: adobe This means the fund was losing money on both long and short positions.
This triggered both margin calls and forced sales in the fund.
AI trading has rebounded since Citadel moved to buy the fund’s listed assets, with the Situation Awareness sale marking the bottom of a selloff that began in June.
