Billionaires Steve Ross and Ken Griffin have committed $10 million to a new campaign aimed at attracting business leaders from outside Florida to South Florida. The initiative, called “Ambition Accelerated,” is being funded through the Florida Council of 100 and will use advertising and marketing efforts to encourage executives, investors, and founders to consider relocating their businesses to the region.
The campaign was launched this week at the Wall Street Journal Invest Live conference in West Palm Beach, an event funded by Ross. It will highlight South Florida’s advantages compared to cities in the Northeast and West Coast of the United States, such as no state income tax and lighter business regulations.
“Miami and the broader South Florida Gold Coast offer deep talent, regulatory clarity and an extraordinary quality of life,” Griffin said in a statement. “These are not secondary considerations; they are foundations for long-term success, and their impact compounds over time.”
Griffin, who founded Citadel, moved his company’s headquarters from Chicago to Miami in 2022. Since then, Citadel has started construction on a new bayfront headquarters valued at more than $1 billion in Miami’s Brickell district. Related Companies is developing the project. Griffin has also invested in a private megayacht marina on Terminal Island in Miami Beach and purchased residential properties worth hundreds of millions of dollars across Palm Beach, Star Island, and Coconut Grove.
Ross is known for founding Related Companies and owning the Miami Dolphins. He previously built his career in New York City real estate before moving to South Florida during the pandemic. His investments include office buildings, development projects like a proposed $290 million convention center hotel, condo buyouts, and a $50 million commitment toward establishing a Vanderbilt University campus in West Palm Beach.
Both businessmen are using their resources not only for personal investment but also to promote economic growth throughout South Florida by drawing more companies into the area.
