Billionaire John Catsimatidis threatened to shut or promote his Manhattan-based grocery chain Gristedes if Democratic Socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is elected the following mayor of New York Metropolis.
“We are able to’t compete with Mamdani opening metropolis run supermarkets at no cost,” Catsimatidis instructed The Publish on Wednesday, referring to the mayoral hopeful’s plans to open grocery shops owned and operated by the federal government within the 5 boroughs.
“Will Mamdani run the supermarkets with union assist? When individuals begin shoplifting, will he even have cops arrest them,” Catsimatidis contemplated.
The 76-year-old grocery store mogul additionally urged that if company taxes are hiked within the Large Apple – one other lofty ambition included in Mamdani’s marketing campaign’s progressive agenda – that he would wish to relocate his firm’s headquarters.
“We’d in all probability transfer our company headquarters to New Jersey,” Catsimatidis stated.
That transfer might embrace Catsimatidis’ Crimson Apple Group, the billionaire’s foremost conglomerate of actual property, vitality and a slew of different industries.
The Gristedes grocery store chain, based in 1888 when the primary retailer opened in Manhattan, presently operates 17 shops within the Large Apple, in keeping with its web site.
Catsimatidis added in an interview with The Press that if Mamdani takes over Metropolis Corridor he’d spend extra time in Florida, which he described because the “promise land.”
“I might spend far lower than 183 days a yr right here, that’s for certain,” he instructed the publication.
Catsimatidis isn’t the one rich businessman mapping out an escape plan from a concrete jungle led by Mamdani.
Invoice Ackman, a billionaire hedge-fund supervisor, even went as far as to recommend Mamdani might set off an exodus from town not seen for the reason that coronavirus pandemic.
“If Mamdani turns into the mayor of New York. You’re going to see the flight of companies from New York. Many of the companies that function in New York Metropolis within the monetary sector are extremely transportable,” Ackman instructed The Free Press.
Ackman’s personal agency, Pershing Sq., was eyeing a transfer to Miami, he added.
A Tuesday ballot indicated that Mamdani held a slender lead over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned in 2021 over a slew of sexual assault allegations he continues to disclaim.
A spokesperson for Mamdani didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
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