Ken Griffin, billionaire investor and founder of hedge fund major Citadel, has acquired the largest stegosaurus fossil ever discovered for a record-breaking $44.6m, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. The fossil, known as “Apex,” stands 11 feet tall and 27 feet long.
Griffin purchased it at a Sotheby’s auction in New York, paying way in excess of the $6m pre-auction estimate.
While Sotheby’s did not disclose the buyer’s identity, the report cites unnamed sources as confirming Griffin as the successful bidder.
The fossil, which was discovered in May 2022 in the Morrison Formation near Dinosaur, Colorado, with excavation completed last October, will now be loaned to an institution in the United States, according to Sotheby’s.
