BGC PARTNERS AND CANTOR FITZGERALD RAISE APPROXIMATELY $12 MILLION ON BGC’S TENTH ANNUAL CHARITY DAY
- 100% of revenues donated to dozens of charities worldwide -
- Top celebrities visit the trading floor in support of Charity Day -
“Every year on Charity Day we support many worthwhile charities around the world, turning a tragic anniversary into a positive and uplifting day,” said Howard W. Lutnick, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BGC Partners. “I’d like to thank everyone who supports our Charity Day including our clients, partners and employees, for their continued generosity for which we are immensely grateful.”
Since its inception Charity Day has raised approximately $113 million globally. Held in commemoration of the 658 Cantor employees and 61 Eurobrokers employees lost in the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, Charity Day, in conjunction with the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund, has expanded its mission to assist charitable causes worldwide.
BGC President, Shaun D. Lynn, said: “We are privileged to support so many worthy charities around the world and are grateful to our clients and employees for supporting Charity Day over the past ten years. It is through their kindness, and that of our celebrity guests who join us on our trading floors, that we are able to help provide financial assistance to so many outstanding organizations globally and take care of so many families in need.”
BGC Charity Day was held in BGC offices across the globe including: London, New York, Paris, Hong Kong, São Paulo, Singapore, Sydney, and other locations.
Distinguished guests representing participating charities joined licensed brokers on the trading floors to conduct transactions with clients. In London, BGC’s celebrity guests included: HRH Princess Beatrice, musician Jools Holland, actors and actresses Samuel L Jackson, Damian Lewis, Clive Owen, Sean Bean, Sadie Frost, Barbara Windsor, and media personalities Stephen Fry, Amanda Holden, Tamara Ecclestone, Jonathan Ross, Vernon Kay, and Denise Van Outen. Leading comedians who joined us included Paddy McGuinness, Jack Whitehall, Jennifer Saunders, as well as models Yasmin Le Bon and David Gandy. Sporting heroes included Olympian Sir Chris Hoy, former tennis champion Boris Becker, England rugby players James Haskell and Manu Tuilagi, England Manager Roy Hodgson, England footballer Jack Wilshere, Chelsea captain John Terry, Chelsea and England footballer Gary Cahill, West Ham manager Sam Allardyce and football legends Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Trevor Brooking and Sir Geoff Hurst.
At BGC’s New York offices, guests included musician Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, actors Rooney Mara, Steve Buscemi, Edie Falco, Kevin Kline, Pamela Anderson, Tony Sirico, and media personalities Jenny McCarthy, Rosanna Scotto, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, as well as Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton of the Boomer and Carton radio show on WFAN and CBS Sports simulcast. Leading athletes who joined BGC included: New York Knicks Carmelo Anthony, Iman Shumpert, and Tim Hardaway Jr., Deron Williams from the Brooklyn Nets, New York Yankees Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia and Dellin Betances, New York Mets Matt Harvey and Curtis Granderson. Also attending were former New York Yankees: Mariano Rivera, Joe Pepitone, former New York Knicks John Starks and Larry Johnson, former New York Jets Joe Klecko, former New York Mets John Franco, and former New York Rangers Rod Gilbert. In addition, Sarah, Duchess of York and HRH Princess Eugenie of York, and models Bridget Moynahan, Linda Evangelista, Jennifer Ohlsson, Carol Alt, Coco Rocha and Damaris Lewis joined BGC Charity Day, as well as many others.
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About BGC Partners, Inc.
BGC Partners is a leading global brokerage company servicing the financial and real estate markets. Products include fixed income securities, interest rate swaps, foreign exchange, equities, equity derivatives, credit derivatives, commercial real estate, commodities, futures, and structured products. BGC also provides a wide range of services, including trade execution, broker-dealer services, clearing, processing, information, and other back-office services to a broad range of financial and non-financial institutions. Through its BGC Trader and BGC Market Data brands, BGC offers financial technology solutions, market data, and analytics related to numerous financial instruments and markets. Through the Newmark Grubb Knight Frank brand, the Company offers a wide range of commercial real estate services including leasing and corporate advisory, investment sales and financial services, consulting, project and development management, and property and facilities management. BGC's customers include many of the world's largest banks, broker-dealers, investment banks, trading firms, hedge funds, governments, corporations, property owners, real estate developers, and investment firms. BGC Partners is led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Howard W. Lutnick. For more information, please visit www.bgcpartners.com.
BGC, BGC Trader, Grubb & Ellis, Grubb and Newmark are trademarks and service marks of BGC Partners, Inc. and its affiliates. Knight Frank is a service mark of Knight Frank Limited Corp., used with permission.
About Charity Day and the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund
Every year, Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Partners, in conjunction with the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund, commemorate our 658 Cantor and 61 Eurobrokers employees who perished on September 11, 2001 by distributing 100% of our global revenues on Charity Day to the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund and dozens of charities around the world. The Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund, initially created to assist families of Cantor employees who were lost on 9/11, has since broadened its mission to provide aid to victims of terrorism, natural disasters, emergencies, direct service charities and wounded members of the military.
At Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Partners, Charity Day is our way of turning a tragic day into one that is positive and uplifting by helping others. We invite celebrity guests who represent participating charities into our offices to conduct trades with licensed brokers and their clients. To date, Charity Day has raised approximately $113 million for charitable causes around the world, and since its inception the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund has raised and distributed over $270 million.
The company and the Relief Fund’s mission to fulfil an important legacy and give meaning to the lives of the victims of 9/11 is captured in the book, An Unbroken Bond: The Untold Story of How the 658 Cantor Fitzgerald Families Faced the Tragedy of 9/11 and Beyond, written by Edie Lutnick, Co-Founder and President of the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund. 100% of the proceeds from the sale of this book go directly to the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund. The book is available for purchase on www.cantorrelief.org/store, www.anunbrokenbond.com, and Amazon.
The story of Cantor Fitzgerald, both before and in the aftermath of 9/11, is told in filmmaker Danielle Gardner’s documentary “Out of the Clear Blue Sky.” Ms. Gardner lost her brother Douglas on 9/11. The documentary tells the behind-the-scenes story of Cantor Fitzgerald and its surviving employees, from an insider’s perspective. The film is now available for purchase and can be downloaded from Amazon, iTunes, and elsewhere. For more information on “Out of the Clear Blue Sky”, please visit http://www.outoftheclearblueskymovie.com/.
For information about the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund please visit www.cantorrelief.org. For information about charities around the world that participate in BGC’s Charity Day, please visit: http://www.bgccharityday.com/
BGC Partners Contacts:
Media
Hannah Sloane: 212-294-7938
Sarah Laufer: 212-915-1008
Investors:
Jason McGruder: 212-829-4988
Jason Chryssicas: 212-915-1987