Citadel Down 13% in November And 47% For The Year

Ken Griffin's Citadel already bad year got that much worse last month by losing an astounding 13% in Novembe, bringing Citadel's told loss to 47% this year, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The WSJ reported that Citadel's losses have originated from declining values of convertible bonds, bank loans and other investments as global markets weaken. Investors told the WSJ much of the losses stemmed from credit holdings during the last week of the month.

This is Ken Griffin's worst year ever since launching Citadel when he was 22 back in 1990. Citadel's assets are continuing to lose value as other other hedge funds are being forced to dump assets at fire-sale prices in order to raise cash to meet redemptions.

Citadel has cut about 20 employees in its trading operations in recent weeks, including some in London, and also is trimming its back-office and human-resources rolls by roughly the same number, according to the WSJ. Citadel has about 1,300 employees world-wide.

One bright spot for Citadel is its $3 billion market-making business, which has posted a gain of about 43% this year and helped shore up the firm's total asset base amid hedge-fund losses.

At its peak near the beginning of this year, Citadel oversaw about $20 billion in total assets and now manages a little less than $16 billion.

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