NEW YORK — Real estate magnate Steve Roth is standing strong with fellow billionaire Ken Griffin in his spat with Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Instead of being singled out and scorned in viral videos, Roth, CEO of Vornado Realty Trust, thinks the ultra-rich should be “praised and thanked” and said calls to tax them more are akin to racial slurs.
“I must say that I consider the phrase tax the rich — quote tax the rich — when spit out with anger and contempt by politicians both here and across the country, to be just as hateful as some disgusting racial slurs, and even the phrase ‘from the river to the sea,’” Roth said, referring to the controversial rallying cry used by pro-Palestinian activists, during a Tuesday earnings call.
Roth decried Mamdani’s recent social media video on a proposed pied-à-terre tax — in which the mayor used Griffin’s $238 million second-home as a backdrop — as “irresponsible and dangerous.” Griffin, CEO of the hedge fund Citadel, was offended by the video, and according to The Wall Street Journal, his chief operating officer suggested Citadel may pause its $6 billion plan to develop a Midtown Manhattan office tower with Vornado and Rudin Management.
“We are all shocked that our young mayor would pull this stunt in front of Ken's home and single him out for ridicule,” said Roth, who brought up the “blunder” unprompted on the call with investors before launching into a six-minute rant about the mayor.
On the planned office redevelopment at 350 Park Avenue, Roth said “it's a good bet that we will go all in.” But he added that “this fence cannot be mended by a short, terse, insincere private apology.”
City Hall did not immediately return a request for comment. Mamdani ran on a pledge to raise taxes on corporations and the wealthiest New Yorkers, but Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has resisted that push — save for the pied-à-terre tax on second homes with values above $5 million.
Griffin further blasted Mamdani at a conference Tuesday while voicing fears the video could spark political violence, noting the CEO of United Healthcare was “killed just a few blocks from my house.”
Roth on Tuesday stressed the significant contributions of the city’s wealthiest residents to its tax base and said these members of the so-called one-percent are “not enemies” and are “at the top of the great American economic pyramid for a reason.”
Roth, who donated generously to Mamdani’s opponent — former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo — in last year’s election, went on to ponder: “Maybe we can draft Ken to become active and lead an effort to educate New York voters and to elect right-minded candidates.”
For now, he wants the city’s democratic socialist mayor — who, he allowed, is “young, smart and energetic” — to be friendlier to billionaires.
“What I beg my mayor to do is to begin every day being business-welcoming and business-friendly as his first priority,” Roth said. “That's the only way to get the growth and financial wherewithal to accomplish his programs, some of which I must say are interesting and valid.”
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