Citadel's Ken Griffin donates $125 million to University of Chicago

CHICAGO - Billionaire businessman Ken Griffin is donating $125 million to the University of Chicago's Department of Economics.

The university announced Griffin's gift Wednesday, saying it's the second-largest in school history and brings his personal donations to the school to nearly $150 million.

The school's economics department will now be known as the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics. The department has had 29 scholars who have received the Nobel Prize for economics, including this year's recipient, economist Richard Thaler.

The school says the money will help the department expand faculty resources, provide student financial aid and create a research arm named after Griffin that will focus on ways to strengthen the understanding and impact of economic.

Griffin is founder and CEO of asset management company Citadel. He joined the university's board of trustees in 2014. Griffin earned $600 million in 2016, ranking him No. 6 on the list of the world's top-earning hedge fund managers, according to trade publication Institutional Investor.

"The University of Chicago has transformed our understanding of economics, he said. "Over the past century, the faculty and students have challenged the status quo to produce pioneering research and path-breaking ideas, which have been recognized by the 29 Nobel prizes in the field of economics awarded to individuals associated with the University," Griffin said in a statement.

The biggest donation to the university came in 2008 when David Booth, founder of investment firm Dimensional Fund Advisors, gave the school $300 million. The University of Chicago named its business school after him.