Wall Street's expensive bet against Zohran Mamdani turned out to be a bad investment.

New York City's CEOs and other billionaire business leaders spent more than $40 million trying to stop Mamdani from becoming the city's next mayor. Now they have to live with him — and their reactions range from threatening to leave the city to pragmatic acceptance .

"I think it's the stages of grief," says Kathryn Wylde, who runs the Partnership for New York City, an influential business group that represents more than 300 large employers.

Wylde has been brokering meetings between her members and Mamdani in the past several months. Her response to his victory this week was both practical and tinged with optimism.

"The Partnership works with whoever wins," she says. "Zohran has won res

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