#palihapitiya — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #palihapitiya, aggregated by home.social.
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The “California Billionaire Tax Act”,
often referred to simply as the #billionaire #tax,
is a proposalthat would require any California resident worth more than $1bn to pay a
one-off, 5% tax on their assets to help cover education, food assistance and healthcare programs in the state.It’s sponsored by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West,
and if it receives enough signatures from California voters, it will go to the ballot in November.When the proposal was put forward at the end of last year,
many among tech’s billionaire elite threw a #tantrum.Some opened offices or bought mansions in Florida or Texas,
vowing to leave California for good.
The fleeing rich included Palantir co-founder Peter #Thiel,
whose current net worth is $25bn;
Google co-founders Larry #Page and Sergey #Brin,
worth around $255bn and $240bn respectively;
and Donald Trump’s AI and crypto czar, David #Sacks,
whose net worth is not publicly known.Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Meta CEO
Mark #Zuckerberg,
worth $229bn, has also bought a property in south Florida valued between $150 and $200m.Thiel has additionally led the charge in donating to a lobbying group, the "California Business Roundtable",
which has pledged to fight the wealth tax.The Palantir co-founder handed over $3m to the political action committee in late December.
Other major donors include realtors, entrepreneurs and private equity firms.
James #Siminoff, who founded the camera-embedded Ring doorbell company, also donated $100,000, according to public records.“The most powerful money in politics is to be on the no-side of a ballot measure,” said #McCuan.
“You can even pre-empt something getting to the ballot, like a billionaire’s tax,
by explaining to everyone out there that this is a bad idea for economic growth.”Tech investors and venture capitalists have been extremely vocal in their opposition to the tax,
saying that the state will lose revenue as billionaires flee and it will hurt the state’s ability to be economically competitive.Just this week, Chamath #Palihapitiya, a former Facebook executive and current venture capital investor, wrote
“the loss of this tax revenue was totally avoidable but is now forever”.
#Balaji #Srinivasan, an investor and former chief technology officer of Coinbase, wrote,
“the most successful tech founders of all time have now exited the failed state of California”.Adding on, Paul #Graham, the co-founder of seed capital firm Y Combinator, wrote:
“It’s important that people like Zuck and Larry Page are willing to move in response to the proposed wealth tax.
It shows politicians what will happen if they try things like this.”Joining the billionaires, #Newsom has pledged to fight the tax, saying it will “drive a race to the bottom” and stifle innovation as the ultra-wealthy leave.
“This will be defeated – there’s no question in my mind,” Newsom told the New York Times in January.
“I’ll do what I have to do to protect the state.”
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/15/california-billionaires-state-elections -
The “California Billionaire Tax Act”,
often referred to simply as the #billionaire #tax,
is a proposalthat would require any California resident worth more than $1bn to pay a
one-off, 5% tax on their assets to help cover education, food assistance and healthcare programs in the state.It’s sponsored by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West,
and if it receives enough signatures from California voters, it will go to the ballot in November.When the proposal was put forward at the end of last year,
many among tech’s billionaire elite threw a #tantrum.Some opened offices or bought mansions in Florida or Texas,
vowing to leave California for good.
The fleeing rich included Palantir co-founder Peter #Thiel,
whose current net worth is $25bn;
Google co-founders Larry #Page and Sergey #Brin,
worth around $255bn and $240bn respectively;
and Donald Trump’s AI and crypto czar, David #Sacks,
whose net worth is not publicly known.Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Meta CEO
Mark #Zuckerberg,
worth $229bn, has also bought a property in south Florida valued between $150 and $200m.Thiel has additionally led the charge in donating to a lobbying group, the "California Business Roundtable",
which has pledged to fight the wealth tax.The Palantir co-founder handed over $3m to the political action committee in late December.
Other major donors include realtors, entrepreneurs and private equity firms.
James #Siminoff, who founded the camera-embedded Ring doorbell company, also donated $100,000, according to public records.“The most powerful money in politics is to be on the no-side of a ballot measure,” said #McCuan.
“You can even pre-empt something getting to the ballot, like a billionaire’s tax,
by explaining to everyone out there that this is a bad idea for economic growth.”Tech investors and venture capitalists have been extremely vocal in their opposition to the tax,
saying that the state will lose revenue as billionaires flee and it will hurt the state’s ability to be economically competitive.Just this week, Chamath #Palihapitiya, a former Facebook executive and current venture capital investor, wrote
“the loss of this tax revenue was totally avoidable but is now forever”.
#Balaji #Srinivasan, an investor and former chief technology officer of Coinbase, wrote,
“the most successful tech founders of all time have now exited the failed state of California”.Adding on, Paul #Graham, the co-founder of seed capital firm Y Combinator, wrote:
“It’s important that people like Zuck and Larry Page are willing to move in response to the proposed wealth tax.
It shows politicians what will happen if they try things like this.”Joining the billionaires, #Newsom has pledged to fight the tax, saying it will “drive a race to the bottom” and stifle innovation as the ultra-wealthy leave.
“This will be defeated – there’s no question in my mind,” Newsom told the New York Times in January.
“I’ll do what I have to do to protect the state.”
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/15/california-billionaires-state-elections -
The “California Billionaire Tax Act”,
often referred to simply as the #billionaire #tax,
is a proposalthat would require any California resident worth more than $1bn to pay a
one-off, 5% tax on their assets to help cover education, food assistance and healthcare programs in the state.It’s sponsored by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West,
and if it receives enough signatures from California voters, it will go to the ballot in November.When the proposal was put forward at the end of last year,
many among tech’s billionaire elite threw a #tantrum.Some opened offices or bought mansions in Florida or Texas,
vowing to leave California for good.
The fleeing rich included Palantir co-founder Peter #Thiel,
whose current net worth is $25bn;
Google co-founders Larry #Page and Sergey #Brin,
worth around $255bn and $240bn respectively;
and Donald Trump’s AI and crypto czar, David #Sacks,
whose net worth is not publicly known.Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Meta CEO
Mark #Zuckerberg,
worth $229bn, has also bought a property in south Florida valued between $150 and $200m.Thiel has additionally led the charge in donating to a lobbying group, the "California Business Roundtable",
which has pledged to fight the wealth tax.The Palantir co-founder handed over $3m to the political action committee in late December.
Other major donors include realtors, entrepreneurs and private equity firms.
James #Siminoff, who founded the camera-embedded Ring doorbell company, also donated $100,000, according to public records.“The most powerful money in politics is to be on the no-side of a ballot measure,” said #McCuan.
“You can even pre-empt something getting to the ballot, like a billionaire’s tax,
by explaining to everyone out there that this is a bad idea for economic growth.”Tech investors and venture capitalists have been extremely vocal in their opposition to the tax,
saying that the state will lose revenue as billionaires flee and it will hurt the state’s ability to be economically competitive.Just this week, Chamath #Palihapitiya, a former Facebook executive and current venture capital investor, wrote
“the loss of this tax revenue was totally avoidable but is now forever”.
#Balaji #Srinivasan, an investor and former chief technology officer of Coinbase, wrote,
“the most successful tech founders of all time have now exited the failed state of California”.Adding on, Paul #Graham, the co-founder of seed capital firm Y Combinator, wrote:
“It’s important that people like Zuck and Larry Page are willing to move in response to the proposed wealth tax.
It shows politicians what will happen if they try things like this.”Joining the billionaires, #Newsom has pledged to fight the tax, saying it will “drive a race to the bottom” and stifle innovation as the ultra-wealthy leave.
“This will be defeated – there’s no question in my mind,” Newsom told the New York Times in January.
“I’ll do what I have to do to protect the state.”
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/15/california-billionaires-state-elections -
The “California Billionaire Tax Act”,
often referred to simply as the #billionaire #tax,
is a proposalthat would require any California resident worth more than $1bn to pay a
one-off, 5% tax on their assets to help cover education, food assistance and healthcare programs in the state.It’s sponsored by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West,
and if it receives enough signatures from California voters, it will go to the ballot in November.When the proposal was put forward at the end of last year,
many among tech’s billionaire elite threw a #tantrum.Some opened offices or bought mansions in Florida or Texas,
vowing to leave California for good.
The fleeing rich included Palantir co-founder Peter #Thiel,
whose current net worth is $25bn;
Google co-founders Larry #Page and Sergey #Brin,
worth around $255bn and $240bn respectively;
and Donald Trump’s AI and crypto czar, David #Sacks,
whose net worth is not publicly known.Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Meta CEO
Mark #Zuckerberg,
worth $229bn, has also bought a property in south Florida valued between $150 and $200m.Thiel has additionally led the charge in donating to a lobbying group, the "California Business Roundtable",
which has pledged to fight the wealth tax.The Palantir co-founder handed over $3m to the political action committee in late December.
Other major donors include realtors, entrepreneurs and private equity firms.
James #Siminoff, who founded the camera-embedded Ring doorbell company, also donated $100,000, according to public records.“The most powerful money in politics is to be on the no-side of a ballot measure,” said #McCuan.
“You can even pre-empt something getting to the ballot, like a billionaire’s tax,
by explaining to everyone out there that this is a bad idea for economic growth.”Tech investors and venture capitalists have been extremely vocal in their opposition to the tax,
saying that the state will lose revenue as billionaires flee and it will hurt the state’s ability to be economically competitive.Just this week, Chamath #Palihapitiya, a former Facebook executive and current venture capital investor, wrote
“the loss of this tax revenue was totally avoidable but is now forever”.
#Balaji #Srinivasan, an investor and former chief technology officer of Coinbase, wrote,
“the most successful tech founders of all time have now exited the failed state of California”.Adding on, Paul #Graham, the co-founder of seed capital firm Y Combinator, wrote:
“It’s important that people like Zuck and Larry Page are willing to move in response to the proposed wealth tax.
It shows politicians what will happen if they try things like this.”Joining the billionaires, #Newsom has pledged to fight the tax, saying it will “drive a race to the bottom” and stifle innovation as the ultra-wealthy leave.
“This will be defeated – there’s no question in my mind,” Newsom told the New York Times in January.
“I’ll do what I have to do to protect the state.”
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/15/california-billionaires-state-elections -
The “California Billionaire Tax Act”,
often referred to simply as the #billionaire #tax,
is a proposalthat would require any California resident worth more than $1bn to pay a
one-off, 5% tax on their assets to help cover education, food assistance and healthcare programs in the state.It’s sponsored by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West,
and if it receives enough signatures from California voters, it will go to the ballot in November.When the proposal was put forward at the end of last year,
many among tech’s billionaire elite threw a #tantrum.Some opened offices or bought mansions in Florida or Texas,
vowing to leave California for good.
The fleeing rich included Palantir co-founder Peter #Thiel,
whose current net worth is $25bn;
Google co-founders Larry #Page and Sergey #Brin,
worth around $255bn and $240bn respectively;
and Donald Trump’s AI and crypto czar, David #Sacks,
whose net worth is not publicly known.Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Meta CEO
Mark #Zuckerberg,
worth $229bn, has also bought a property in south Florida valued between $150 and $200m.Thiel has additionally led the charge in donating to a lobbying group, the "California Business Roundtable",
which has pledged to fight the wealth tax.The Palantir co-founder handed over $3m to the political action committee in late December.
Other major donors include realtors, entrepreneurs and private equity firms.
James #Siminoff, who founded the camera-embedded Ring doorbell company, also donated $100,000, according to public records.“The most powerful money in politics is to be on the no-side of a ballot measure,” said #McCuan.
“You can even pre-empt something getting to the ballot, like a billionaire’s tax,
by explaining to everyone out there that this is a bad idea for economic growth.”Tech investors and venture capitalists have been extremely vocal in their opposition to the tax,
saying that the state will lose revenue as billionaires flee and it will hurt the state’s ability to be economically competitive.Just this week, Chamath #Palihapitiya, a former Facebook executive and current venture capital investor, wrote
“the loss of this tax revenue was totally avoidable but is now forever”.
#Balaji #Srinivasan, an investor and former chief technology officer of Coinbase, wrote,
“the most successful tech founders of all time have now exited the failed state of California”.Adding on, Paul #Graham, the co-founder of seed capital firm Y Combinator, wrote:
“It’s important that people like Zuck and Larry Page are willing to move in response to the proposed wealth tax.
It shows politicians what will happen if they try things like this.”Joining the billionaires, #Newsom has pledged to fight the tax, saying it will “drive a race to the bottom” and stifle innovation as the ultra-wealthy leave.
“This will be defeated – there’s no question in my mind,” Newsom told the New York Times in January.
“I’ll do what I have to do to protect the state.”
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/15/california-billionaires-state-elections -
On the last Friday of September 2023, #Elon #Musk dropped in about an hour late to a dinner party at the Silicon Valley mansion of the technology investor #Chamath #Palihapitiya.
Musk’s visit was meant to be discreet -- Still skittish about getting involved publicly in politics, he told the guests he had to be careful about supporting anyone in the Republican nomination fight.
And yet here he was
— joined by Claire Boucher, the singer known as #Grimes and the mother of three of his children
— at a $50,000-a-head dinner in honor of the presidential candidate #Vivek #Ramaswamy, who was running as an entrepreneur who would shake up the status quo.As the night wore on, Musk held forth on the patio on a variety of topics, according to four people with knowledge of the conversation:
his visit that week to the U.S.-Mexico border;
the war in Ukraine;
his frustrations with government regulations hindering his rocket company, SpaceX;
and Mr. Ramaswamy’s highest priority, the dismantling of the federal bureaucracy.
Musk made clear that he saw the gutting of that bureaucracy as primarily a technology challenge.He told the party of around 20 that when he overhauled Twitter, the key was gaining access to the company’s servers
Wouldn’t it be great, Musk offered, if he could have access to the computers of the federal government?
Just give him the passwords, he said jocularly, and he would make the government fit and trim.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/us/politics/musk-federal-bureaucracy-takeover.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare -
Elon Musk and Donald Trump have reportedly been speaking together frequently in recent months,
and their bitterly reactionary politics obviously align.Within days, The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk was committing a remarkable
$45 million per month to "America PAC",
a new pro-Trump super PAC that would
also be supported by Palantir cofounder Joe #Lonsdale, Mark #Zuckerberg castoffs Tyler and Cameron #Winklevoss,
and several members of what’s sometimes called the Paypal mafia,
a right-wing network of tech industry leaders with Peter #Thiel as its presiding majordomo.If, two years ago The New York Times could make the dubious claim that tech giants like Musk were hard to pin down politically, there is no room now for even that level of credulousness.
It’s official:
Silicon Valley has been fully MAGA-pilled, and the tech authoritarians are bringing their money with them.Trump unveiled as his VP pick Ohio Senator J.D. #Vance, a former Thiel employee and venture capitalist who owes his election to the Senate to a $15 million campaign cash infusion from Thiel.
For the tech industry, whose rightward swerve has been hard to ignore this campaign cycle, the Vance selection was sensational.
“We have a former tech VC in the White House,” crowed Delian #Asparouhov, a partner at Thiel’s Founders Fund who once drew notice for sharing a comic by the neo-Nazi cartoonist known as StoneToss. “Greatest country on Earth baby.”
Musk, who had reportedly been agitating privately for Trump to choose Vance, celebrated the pick on X.
“Resounds with victory,” he wrote.
Vivek #Ramaswamy posted wistful, supportive remarks about being drinking buddies with Vance at Yale Law School.Using the term of endearment favored by his fellow mega-rich “All-In” podcast hosts,
Chamath #Palihapitiya celebrated the news: “A Bestie adjacent as the VP?!?!?!”Thiel, who is infamous for his stated aversion to democracy, has claimed that he is sitting out this election,
but his baton has been passed to a gaggle of ornery venture capitalists and tech CEOs whom you may recognize from their grievance-laden X posts: #Lonsdale, David #Sacks, Shaun #Maguire, Marc #Andreessen, et al.They are all very rich and control a lot of capital beyond their own.
They are also wielding increasing influence over the Trump campaign: Sacks spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/silicon-valley-trump-support-donations/ -
Tech executives and investors said they were invigorated by Harris
“It’s democracy time, people,” Roy #Bahat, an investor at Bloomberg Beta, posted on LinkedIn.
Aaron #Levie, the chief executive of Box, a cloud storage company, wrote on X that Mr. Biden had shown “amazing leadership,” adding, “Now let’s go!”The energy was a far cry from the dismay felt in tech circles recently as some of the industry’s most influential voices declared they were for Mr. Trump.
The rejuvenation could blunt the momentum of pro-Trump conservatives in Silicon Valley and entice more wealthy tech executives to throw their support — and money — behind the Democratic ticket.Just last week, the political winds in Silicon Valley appeared to be blowing to the right.
On Tuesday, Mr. #Andreessen 😨and Mr. #Horowitz😨, founders of the influential investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, argued in a 90-minute podcast that Mr. Trump was the best candidate for start-ups, with plans to donate millions to his campaign. Days earlier, Mr. #Musk 😨had also endorsed Mr. Trump.
They had been preceded by David #Sacks 😨and Chamath #Palihapitiya, 😨two tech investors who had hosteda $12 million fund-raiser for Mr. Trump in June. Doug #Leone 😨and Shaun #Maguire 😨of Sequoia Capital, a top investment firm, had also said that they would vote for Mr. Trump.Yet despite the growing sense of a MAGA takeover, not everyone in tech moved toward Mr. Trump.
“You have people with the loudest voices claiming to speak for the broader community, and the views don’t match,” said Katie Jacobs #Stanton, founder of Moxxie Ventures, a venture capital firm.
“By no means do they line up with the thousands of founders and employees and investors who live and work in Silicon Valley.”
John #Coogan, a start-up founder, wrote in a blog post in June that media coverage of Silicon Valley’s support for Mr. Trump was “at odds with reality.”
Top venture capitalists had given four times more money to Democrats than Republicans in the first part of the year, he argued.“Trump is very unpopular in Silicon Valley in general,” Mr. #Khosla said, adding that those who were pro-Trump were “only a small constituency.”
Now liberals in tech are rejuvenated.
Mr. #Mehta said that some of his WhatsApp chats, particularly those that included Indian people in tech, exploded with excitement for Kamala Harris, whose mother is from India.
To show support for the vice president, some implored people to make small donations, while others discussed potential fund-raisers, he said.
Mr. #Hoffman, a founder of LinkedIn and a prominent Democratic donor, emphasized in essays, videos and social media posts that Mr. Trump was a danger to the rule of law and democracy.
“You can’t use business justification as your cloak, as your rationalization, for being supportive of Trump,” he said.Mr. #Levie of Box said he had spoken to a dozen other tech and business people on Sunday who were now optimistic about the election in November.
He said he was hopeful that Democrats could deliver a positive message on issues that the tech industry cared about, including A.I., entrepreneurship and immigration reform for high-skilled workers.
“We have a chance to get excited and rally around someone,” he said.On Sunday, Mr. #Hoffman endorsed Ms. Harris, while Mr. #Khosla called for an open process at the Democratic convention.
Mr. #Suster said his phone blew up with a collective message of “thank god.”
He estimated that three-quarters of the people he interacted with in tech were happy about Mr. Biden’s withdrawal and would not support Mr. Trump. -
Tech executives and investors said they were invigorated by Harris
“It’s democracy time, people,” Roy #Bahat, an investor at Bloomberg Beta, posted on LinkedIn.
Aaron #Levie, the chief executive of Box, a cloud storage company, wrote on X that Mr. Biden had shown “amazing leadership,” adding, “Now let’s go!”The energy was a far cry from the dismay felt in tech circles recently as some of the industry’s most influential voices declared they were for Mr. Trump.
The rejuvenation could blunt the momentum of pro-Trump conservatives in Silicon Valley and entice more wealthy tech executives to throw their support — and money — behind the Democratic ticket.Just last week, the political winds in Silicon Valley appeared to be blowing to the right.
On Tuesday, Mr. #Andreessen 😨and Mr. #Horowitz😨, founders of the influential investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, argued in a 90-minute podcast that Mr. Trump was the best candidate for start-ups, with plans to donate millions to his campaign. Days earlier, Mr. #Musk 😨had also endorsed Mr. Trump.
They had been preceded by David #Sacks 😨and Chamath #Palihapitiya, 😨two tech investors who had hosteda $12 million fund-raiser for Mr. Trump in June. Doug #Leone 😨and Shaun #Maguire 😨of Sequoia Capital, a top investment firm, had also said that they would vote for Mr. Trump.Yet despite the growing sense of a MAGA takeover, not everyone in tech moved toward Mr. Trump.
“You have people with the loudest voices claiming to speak for the broader community, and the views don’t match,” said Katie Jacobs #Stanton, founder of Moxxie Ventures, a venture capital firm.
“By no means do they line up with the thousands of founders and employees and investors who live and work in Silicon Valley.”
John #Coogan, a start-up founder, wrote in a blog post in June that media coverage of Silicon Valley’s support for Mr. Trump was “at odds with reality.”
Top venture capitalists had given four times more money to Democrats than Republicans in the first part of the year, he argued.“Trump is very unpopular in Silicon Valley in general,” Mr. #Khosla said, adding that those who were pro-Trump were “only a small constituency.”
Now liberals in tech are rejuvenated.
Mr. #Mehta said that some of his WhatsApp chats, particularly those that included Indian people in tech, exploded with excitement for Kamala Harris, whose mother is from India.
To show support for the vice president, some implored people to make small donations, while others discussed potential fund-raisers, he said.
Mr. #Hoffman, a founder of LinkedIn and a prominent Democratic donor, emphasized in essays, videos and social media posts that Mr. Trump was a danger to the rule of law and democracy.
“You can’t use business justification as your cloak, as your rationalization, for being supportive of Trump,” he said.Mr. #Levie of Box said he had spoken to a dozen other tech and business people on Sunday who were now optimistic about the election in November.
He said he was hopeful that Democrats could deliver a positive message on issues that the tech industry cared about, including A.I., entrepreneurship and immigration reform for high-skilled workers.
“We have a chance to get excited and rally around someone,” he said.On Sunday, Mr. #Hoffman endorsed Ms. Harris, while Mr. #Khosla called for an open process at the Democratic convention.
Mr. #Suster said his phone blew up with a collective message of “thank god.”
He estimated that three-quarters of the people he interacted with in tech were happy about Mr. Biden’s withdrawal and would not support Mr. Trump. -
Tech executives and investors said they were invigorated by Harris
“It’s democracy time, people,” Roy #Bahat, an investor at Bloomberg Beta, posted on LinkedIn.
Aaron #Levie, the chief executive of Box, a cloud storage company, wrote on X that Mr. Biden had shown “amazing leadership,” adding, “Now let’s go!”The energy was a far cry from the dismay felt in tech circles recently as some of the industry’s most influential voices declared they were for Mr. Trump.
The rejuvenation could blunt the momentum of pro-Trump conservatives in Silicon Valley and entice more wealthy tech executives to throw their support — and money — behind the Democratic ticket.Just last week, the political winds in Silicon Valley appeared to be blowing to the right.
On Tuesday, Mr. #Andreessen 😨and Mr. #Horowitz😨, founders of the influential investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, argued in a 90-minute podcast that Mr. Trump was the best candidate for start-ups, with plans to donate millions to his campaign. Days earlier, Mr. #Musk 😨had also endorsed Mr. Trump.
They had been preceded by David #Sacks 😨and Chamath #Palihapitiya, 😨two tech investors who had hosteda $12 million fund-raiser for Mr. Trump in June. Doug #Leone 😨and Shaun #Maguire 😨of Sequoia Capital, a top investment firm, had also said that they would vote for Mr. Trump.Yet despite the growing sense of a MAGA takeover, not everyone in tech moved toward Mr. Trump.
“You have people with the loudest voices claiming to speak for the broader community, and the views don’t match,” said Katie Jacobs #Stanton, founder of Moxxie Ventures, a venture capital firm.
“By no means do they line up with the thousands of founders and employees and investors who live and work in Silicon Valley.”
John #Coogan, a start-up founder, wrote in a blog post in June that media coverage of Silicon Valley’s support for Mr. Trump was “at odds with reality.”
Top venture capitalists had given four times more money to Democrats than Republicans in the first part of the year, he argued.“Trump is very unpopular in Silicon Valley in general,” Mr. #Khosla said, adding that those who were pro-Trump were “only a small constituency.”
Now liberals in tech are rejuvenated.
Mr. #Mehta said that some of his WhatsApp chats, particularly those that included Indian people in tech, exploded with excitement for Kamala Harris, whose mother is from India.
To show support for the vice president, some implored people to make small donations, while others discussed potential fund-raisers, he said.
Mr. #Hoffman, a founder of LinkedIn and a prominent Democratic donor, emphasized in essays, videos and social media posts that Mr. Trump was a danger to the rule of law and democracy.
“You can’t use business justification as your cloak, as your rationalization, for being supportive of Trump,” he said.Mr. #Levie of Box said he had spoken to a dozen other tech and business people on Sunday who were now optimistic about the election in November.
He said he was hopeful that Democrats could deliver a positive message on issues that the tech industry cared about, including A.I., entrepreneurship and immigration reform for high-skilled workers.
“We have a chance to get excited and rally around someone,” he said.On Sunday, Mr. #Hoffman endorsed Ms. Harris, while Mr. #Khosla called for an open process at the Democratic convention.
Mr. #Suster said his phone blew up with a collective message of “thank god.”
He estimated that three-quarters of the people he interacted with in tech were happy about Mr. Biden’s withdrawal and would not support Mr. Trump. -
How JD Vance’s path to being Trump’s VP pick wound through Silicon Valley
Following a brief period of work in corporate law after he graduated Yale, Vance moved to San Francisco and got a job at #Peter #Thiel’s Mithril Capital venture firm in 2015.
After Hillbilly Elegy became a bestseller in 2016 and brought him to national prominence, Vance joined the venture capital firm Revolution, founded by the former AOL CEO #Steve #Case.
Vance remained a part of the tech VC world after returning to Ohio and leaving Revolution in early 2020.
He received financial backing from Thiel to co-found the venture firm Narya Capital
– which, like Thiel’s enterprises, was named after an object from The Lord of The Rings, this time a ring of power made for elves.Other prominent investors in Narya included #Eric #Schmidt, the former Google CEO,and #Marc #Andreessen, a venture capitalist, who announced his own support for #Trump this past week.
The stated goal of Vance’s firm was to invest in early-stage startups in cities that Silicon Valley tended to overlook.
Narya Capital in 2021 led a group of conservative investors,
including Thiel,
to put money into #Rumble, the video streaming platform that positions itself as
a less-moderated and more rightwing friendly version of YouTube.Vance’s co-founder at Narya, #Colin #Greenspon, touted the investment as a challenge to big tech’s hold on online services
– a frequent conservative talking point during the backlash to content moderation around the pandemic and 2020 presidential election.It was also around this time that Thiel, who heavily backed Trump financially during the 2016 campaign, brought Vance to first talk with Trump during a secretive meeting at Mar-a-Lago in February of 2021, according to the New York Times.
Vance’s long association with Thiel also proved lucrative during his run for senator in 2022.
Thiel put a staggering $15m into Vance’s campaign and, according to the Washington Post, helped court Trump’s endorsement, leading to Vance winning a tightly contested Republican primary race and then the senate election.Although Thiel has pledged in recent years to stay out of donations to the 2024 election,
Vance has since flexed his other Silicon Valley connections to ingratiate himself to Trump.The Ohio senator introduced #David #Sacks, a prominent venture capitalist, to Donald Trump Jr in March, the New York Times reported,
and attended Sacks’ pro-Trump fundraiser in June, co-sponsored by #Chamath #Palihapitiya, Sacks’ co-host on the popular podcast All In.The event, which cost as much as $300,000 to attend, was held at Sacks’s San Francisco mansion and featured the investor thanking Vance for his help making the fundraiser happen.
During an informal conversation at the dinner, Sacks and Palihapitiya told Trump to nominate Vance as his VP choice.
Sacks spoke at the Republican national convention Monday.
In the days prior, he had also called Trump to advocate for Vance as the VP pick,
as had #Elon #Musk and #Tucker #Carlson, the ex-Fox News host, according to Axios.Thiel also expressed his support for Vance in private calls with Trump, the New York Times reported.
When Trump confirmed Vance would be his running mate, Sacks and Musk posted fawning celebrations on Twitter
– with Musk saying the ticket “resounds with victory”.Many of Vance’s wealthy tech elite and venture capitalist supporters now appear to be preparing to offer even more tangible support.
Investors including Musk, Andreessen and Thiel’s co-founder in #Palantir, #Joe #Lonsdale, are all reportedly planning to donate huge sums of money to back the Trump and Vance campaign
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jul/19/jd-vance-trump-vp-pick-silicon-valley?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other -
The payoff from Thiel’s early gamble in Trump is a lesson that has not passed others by.
As with their other obsession, #crypto, the best time to have invested in Trump was 2016,
and the second best time is today.We already have a word for what we’re watching now:
it’s #oligarchy.And we’ve already seen how this plays out.
In Putin’s Russia, political and commercial interests are one and the same.
Thiel is betting
– again
– on the same phenomenon in America.Betting that he will be first among a new breed of tech bro oligarchs
– a new super-class of #broligarchs.In Trump’s America, there will be hard choices for everyone, including the billionaires. --
Though it may be less hard for them.Vance has said he wants to #deregulate crypto and
unshackle AI.He’s said he’d #dismantle Biden’s attempts to place safeguards around AI development.
And while he has it in for the #legacy #monopolies of Google and Facebook
– the platforms that his ideological bedfellows in the “new right” see as part of the “censorship industrial complex” suffocating rightwing speech
– Silicon Valley is betting on a gloves-off, regulation-free, pro-business #goldrush.Another Peter Thiel acolyte was on stage at the Republican National Convention last week,
electrifying the crowd:
#Hulk #Hogan.Hogan is less well known as one of Thiel’s longterm bets, though in some ways he’s even more instructive than Vance.
In 2007, the online magazine #Gawker outed Thiel and ran a series of unflattering articles about him.
It took him years, but he ultimately got his revenge, covertly funding Hulk Hogan to the tune of $10m to sue the publication for invasion of privacy and forcing it into #bankruptcy.
On stage at the RNC, the wrestler, a permatanned orange, ripped off his shirt for the man who increasingly looks like he’ll be America’s next president.
Or, if JD Vance, is correct, the man who will prove to be the #Caesar he says America needs.
A man who he has already urged to fire the nation’s civil servants to
💥 “replace them with our people”,
to defy the courts and rule his own way.Or, to put this in simple terms:
to foment a #coup.Thiel knows what every investor knows. That a crisis is an opportunity.
And that if Trump succeeds in tearing up the federal administration,
there is not only billions to be made in the ensuing market #turmoil but that a new breed of oligarchs,
close to Caesar’s throne, will be the first to share the spoils.And chief among them will be Thiel.
It’s not a stretch to see how #Palantir, his data-mining company
– that under the Conservatives got its teeth into the NHS
– will profile and surveil and target Caesar’s enemies.And Thiel’s track record in winning, in successfully betting on the longest of odds, on biding his time, is maybe the most chilling of all the factors in a fortnight that has started to feel like the start of a run on the bank.
Biden’s debate disaster,
Trump’s victorious assassination survival,
and now Silicon Valley’s ascension to the presidential ticket.The broligarchs have made their move
– and the rest of us need to understand exactly what that means.#tech #elite #Sandberg #Page #Bezos #Peter #Thiel #tech #bro #Vance #Elon #Musk #Marc #Andreessen #Ben #Horowitz #Winklevoss #Chamath #Palihapitiya #David #Sacks #Palantir #Vance #Mithril #Capital #Narya #Capital
-
The payoff from Thiel’s early gamble in Trump is a lesson that has not passed others by.
As with their other obsession, #crypto, the best time to have invested in Trump was 2016,
and the second best time is today.We already have a word for what we’re watching now:
it’s #oligarchy.And we’ve already seen how this plays out.
In Putin’s Russia, political and commercial interests are one and the same.
Thiel is betting
– again
– on the same phenomenon in America.Betting that he will be first among a new breed of tech bro oligarchs
– a new super-class of #broligarchs.In Trump’s America, there will be hard choices for everyone, including the billionaires. --
Though it may be less hard for them.Vance has said he wants to #deregulate crypto and
unshackle AI.He’s said he’d #dismantle Biden’s attempts to place safeguards around AI development.
And while he has it in for the #legacy #monopolies of Google and Facebook
– the platforms that his ideological bedfellows in the “new right” see as part of the “censorship industrial complex” suffocating rightwing speech
– Silicon Valley is betting on a gloves-off, regulation-free, pro-business #goldrush.Another Peter Thiel acolyte was on stage at the Republican National Convention last week,
electrifying the crowd:
#Hulk #Hogan.Hogan is less well known as one of Thiel’s longterm bets, though in some ways he’s even more instructive than Vance.
In 2007, the online magazine #Gawker outed Thiel and ran a series of unflattering articles about him.
It took him years, but he ultimately got his revenge, covertly funding Hulk Hogan to the tune of $10m to sue the publication for invasion of privacy and forcing it into #bankruptcy.
On stage at the RNC, the wrestler, a permatanned orange, ripped off his shirt for the man who increasingly looks like he’ll be America’s next president.
Or, if JD Vance, is correct, the man who will prove to be the #Caesar he says America needs.
A man who he has already urged to fire the nation’s civil servants to
💥 “replace them with our people”,
to defy the courts and rule his own way.Or, to put this in simple terms:
to foment a #coup.Thiel knows what every investor knows. That a crisis is an opportunity.
And that if Trump succeeds in tearing up the federal administration,
there is not only billions to be made in the ensuing market #turmoil but that a new breed of oligarchs,
close to Caesar’s throne, will be the first to share the spoils.And chief among them will be Thiel.
It’s not a stretch to see how #Palantir, his data-mining company
– that under the Conservatives got its teeth into the NHS
– will profile and surveil and target Caesar’s enemies.And Thiel’s track record in winning, in successfully betting on the longest of odds, on biding his time, is maybe the most chilling of all the factors in a fortnight that has started to feel like the start of a run on the bank.
Biden’s debate disaster,
Trump’s victorious assassination survival,
and now Silicon Valley’s ascension to the presidential ticket.The broligarchs have made their move
– and the rest of us need to understand exactly what that means.#tech #elite #Sandberg #Page #Bezos #Peter #Thiel #tech #bro #Vance #Elon #Musk #Marc #Andreessen #Ben #Horowitz #Winklevoss #Chamath #Palihapitiya #David #Sacks #Palantir #Vance #Mithril #Capital #Narya #Capital
-
The payoff from Thiel’s early gamble in Trump is a lesson that has not passed others by.
As with their other obsession, #crypto, the best time to have invested in Trump was 2016,
and the second best time is today.We already have a word for what we’re watching now:
it’s #oligarchy.And we’ve already seen how this plays out.
In Putin’s Russia, political and commercial interests are one and the same.
Thiel is betting
– again
– on the same phenomenon in America.Betting that he will be first among a new breed of tech bro oligarchs
– a new super-class of #broligarchs.In Trump’s America, there will be hard choices for everyone, including the billionaires. --
Though it may be less hard for them.Vance has said he wants to #deregulate crypto and
unshackle AI.He’s said he’d #dismantle Biden’s attempts to place safeguards around AI development.
And while he has it in for the #legacy #monopolies of Google and Facebook
– the platforms that his ideological bedfellows in the “new right” see as part of the “censorship industrial complex” suffocating rightwing speech
– Silicon Valley is betting on a gloves-off, regulation-free, pro-business #goldrush.Another Peter Thiel acolyte was on stage at the Republican National Convention last week,
electrifying the crowd:
#Hulk #Hogan.Hogan is less well known as one of Thiel’s longterm bets, though in some ways he’s even more instructive than Vance.
In 2007, the online magazine #Gawker outed Thiel and ran a series of unflattering articles about him.
It took him years, but he ultimately got his revenge, covertly funding Hulk Hogan to the tune of $10m to sue the publication for invasion of privacy and forcing it into #bankruptcy.
On stage at the RNC, the wrestler, a permatanned orange, ripped off his shirt for the man who increasingly looks like he’ll be America’s next president.
Or, if JD Vance, is correct, the man who will prove to be the #Caesar he says America needs.
A man who he has already urged to fire the nation’s civil servants to
💥 “replace them with our people”,
to defy the courts and rule his own way.Or, to put this in simple terms:
to foment a #coup.Thiel knows what every investor knows. That a crisis is an opportunity.
And that if Trump succeeds in tearing up the federal administration,
there is not only billions to be made in the ensuing market #turmoil but that a new breed of oligarchs,
close to Caesar’s throne, will be the first to share the spoils.And chief among them will be Thiel.
It’s not a stretch to see how #Palantir, his data-mining company
– that under the Conservatives got its teeth into the NHS
– will profile and surveil and target Caesar’s enemies.And Thiel’s track record in winning, in successfully betting on the longest of odds, on biding his time, is maybe the most chilling of all the factors in a fortnight that has started to feel like the start of a run on the bank.
Biden’s debate disaster,
Trump’s victorious assassination survival,
and now Silicon Valley’s ascension to the presidential ticket.The broligarchs have made their move
– and the rest of us need to understand exactly what that means.#tech #elite #Sandberg #Page #Bezos #Peter #Thiel #tech #bro #Vance #Elon #Musk #Marc #Andreessen #Ben #Horowitz #Winklevoss #Chamath #Palihapitiya #David #Sacks #Palantir #Vance #Mithril #Capital #Narya #Capital
-
The payoff from Thiel’s early gamble in Trump is a lesson that has not passed others by.
As with their other obsession, #crypto, the best time to have invested in Trump was 2016,
and the second best time is today.We already have a word for what we’re watching now:
it’s #oligarchy.And we’ve already seen how this plays out.
In Putin’s Russia, political and commercial interests are one and the same.
Thiel is betting
– again
– on the same phenomenon in America.Betting that he will be first among a new breed of tech bro oligarchs
– a new super-class of #broligarchs.In Trump’s America, there will be hard choices for everyone, including the billionaires. --
Though it may be less hard for them.Vance has said he wants to #deregulate crypto and
unshackle AI.He’s said he’d #dismantle Biden’s attempts to place safeguards around AI development.
And while he has it in for the #legacy #monopolies of Google and Facebook
– the platforms that his ideological bedfellows in the “new right” see as part of the “censorship industrial complex” suffocating rightwing speech
– Silicon Valley is betting on a gloves-off, regulation-free, pro-business #goldrush.Another Peter Thiel acolyte was on stage at the Republican National Convention last week,
electrifying the crowd:
#Hulk #Hogan.Hogan is less well known as one of Thiel’s longterm bets, though in some ways he’s even more instructive than Vance.
In 2007, the online magazine #Gawker outed Thiel and ran a series of unflattering articles about him.
It took him years, but he ultimately got his revenge, covertly funding Hulk Hogan to the tune of $10m to sue the publication for invasion of privacy and forcing it into #bankruptcy.
On stage at the RNC, the wrestler, a permatanned orange, ripped off his shirt for the man who increasingly looks like he’ll be America’s next president.
Or, if JD Vance, is correct, the man who will prove to be the #Caesar he says America needs.
A man who he has already urged to fire the nation’s civil servants to
💥 “replace them with our people”,
to defy the courts and rule his own way.Or, to put this in simple terms:
to foment a #coup.Thiel knows what every investor knows. That a crisis is an opportunity.
And that if Trump succeeds in tearing up the federal administration,
there is not only billions to be made in the ensuing market #turmoil but that a new breed of oligarchs,
close to Caesar’s throne, will be the first to share the spoils.And chief among them will be Thiel.
It’s not a stretch to see how #Palantir, his data-mining company
– that under the Conservatives got its teeth into the NHS
– will profile and surveil and target Caesar’s enemies.And Thiel’s track record in winning, in successfully betting on the longest of odds, on biding his time, is maybe the most chilling of all the factors in a fortnight that has started to feel like the start of a run on the bank.
Biden’s debate disaster,
Trump’s victorious assassination survival,
and now Silicon Valley’s ascension to the presidential ticket.The broligarchs have made their move
– and the rest of us need to understand exactly what that means.#tech #elite #Sandberg #Page #Bezos #Peter #Thiel #tech #bro #Vance #Elon #Musk #Marc #Andreessen #Ben #Horowitz #Winklevoss #Chamath #Palihapitiya #David #Sacks #Palantir #Vance #Mithril #Capital #Narya #Capital
-
The payoff from Thiel’s early gamble in Trump is a lesson that has not passed others by.
As with their other obsession, #crypto, the best time to have invested in Trump was 2016,
and the second best time is today.We already have a word for what we’re watching now:
it’s #oligarchy.And we’ve already seen how this plays out.
In Putin’s Russia, political and commercial interests are one and the same.
Thiel is betting
– again
– on the same phenomenon in America.Betting that he will be first among a new breed of tech bro oligarchs
– a new super-class of #broligarchs.In Trump’s America, there will be hard choices for everyone, including the billionaires. --
Though it may be less hard for them.Vance has said he wants to #deregulate crypto and
unshackle AI.He’s said he’d #dismantle Biden’s attempts to place safeguards around AI development.
And while he has it in for the #legacy #monopolies of Google and Facebook
– the platforms that his ideological bedfellows in the “new right” see as part of the “censorship industrial complex” suffocating rightwing speech
– Silicon Valley is betting on a gloves-off, regulation-free, pro-business #goldrush.Another Peter Thiel acolyte was on stage at the Republican National Convention last week,
electrifying the crowd:
#Hulk #Hogan.Hogan is less well known as one of Thiel’s longterm bets, though in some ways he’s even more instructive than Vance.
In 2007, the online magazine #Gawker outed Thiel and ran a series of unflattering articles about him.
It took him years, but he ultimately got his revenge, covertly funding Hulk Hogan to the tune of $10m to sue the publication for invasion of privacy and forcing it into #bankruptcy.
On stage at the RNC, the wrestler, a permatanned orange, ripped off his shirt for the man who increasingly looks like he’ll be America’s next president.
Or, if JD Vance, is correct, the man who will prove to be the #Caesar he says America needs.
A man who he has already urged to fire the nation’s civil servants to
💥 “replace them with our people”,
to defy the courts and rule his own way.Or, to put this in simple terms:
to foment a #coup.Thiel knows what every investor knows. That a crisis is an opportunity.
And that if Trump succeeds in tearing up the federal administration,
there is not only billions to be made in the ensuing market #turmoil but that a new breed of oligarchs,
close to Caesar’s throne, will be the first to share the spoils.And chief among them will be Thiel.
It’s not a stretch to see how #Palantir, his data-mining company
– that under the Conservatives got its teeth into the NHS
– will profile and surveil and target Caesar’s enemies.And Thiel’s track record in winning, in successfully betting on the longest of odds, on biding his time, is maybe the most chilling of all the factors in a fortnight that has started to feel like the start of a run on the bank.
Biden’s debate disaster,
Trump’s victorious assassination survival,
and now Silicon Valley’s ascension to the presidential ticket.The broligarchs have made their move
– and the rest of us need to understand exactly what that means.#tech #elite #Sandberg #Page #Bezos #Peter #Thiel #tech #bro #Vance #Elon #Musk #Marc #Andreessen #Ben #Horowitz #Winklevoss #Chamath #Palihapitiya #David #Sacks #Palantir #Vance #Mithril #Capital #Narya #Capital
-
Tech broligarchs are lining up to court Trump. And Vance is one more link in the chain
Less than a month after Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016,
he invited the cream of Silicon Valley's #tech #elite to a meeting at his transition team’s headquarters at Trump Tower.It was an awkward affair.
Facebook’s Sheryl #Sandberg, Google’s Larry #Page and Amazon’s Jeff #Bezos had facial expressions that ranged from a semi-rictus grin to full tech-mogul-in-a-hostage-situation.But then, in a sense they were. There was a new sheriff in town – and none of them had seen him coming.
But one person was in his element. Seated next to Trump, uncomplicatedly beaming, was a South African-born tech entrepreneur whose early investment in Facebook had made him billions.
And if this past week marked an inflection point, and there are many reasons to believe it did,
the seeds of it were planted in the summer of 2016.This was when Trump was the outside candidate. The man no respectable west coast tech entrepreneur or east coast business elite wanted to touch.
Last week marked a decisive end to that era.
A week in which Donald Trump not only appointed a #tech #bro to be his second in command, choosing Senator JD #Vance to be his VP,
but in which he received the benediction of the tech bro-in-chief, #Elon #Musk.Musk has said he will donate
💥 $45m a month to Trump’s campaign,
💥though his ongoing endorsement on X,
the platform he bought and owns, is worth countless millions more.But it’s some lesser-known figures in Silicon Valley who last week boarded the Trump bandwagon who are perhaps even more telling.
#Marc #Andreessen and #Ben #Horowitz, who own one of the most storied and influential venture capital (VC) firms in Silicon Valley,
have declared they’re all in for Trump alongside a host of lesser-known but important names who have either followed suit or who beat them to the punch,
including the #Winklevoss twins and investors and podcast hosts #Chamath #Palihapitiya and #David #Sacks.Back in 2016, Peter Thiel was the voice in the wilderness. And in that meeting in Trump Tower, it was Thiel’s hand that Trump picked up and stroked.
(And whose data mining firm, #Palantir, picked up billions of dollars in contracts from Trump’s Department of Defense, and, most controversially, Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, where it profiled and surveilled migrants.)
The principle that underpins Silicon Valley investing is to bet early and bet big.
It worked for Thiel with Facebook. It worked for Thiel with Trump. And last week another of his bets paid off, though few could ever have predicted how spectacularly.
Because JD #Vance, the new potential VP, is Thiel’s creature.
He is a man Thiel moulded in his own image through lavish investments in his business and political careers.
Thiel gave Vance a job at his VC firm, #Mithril #Capital, backed him to start his own venture fund, #Narya #Capital, then later invested $15m in his successful run for the senate.
Max Chafkin, Thiel’s biographer, describes Vance as his “extension”. -
Tech broligarchs are lining up to court Trump. And Vance is one more link in the chain
Less than a month after Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016,
he invited the cream of Silicon Valley's #tech #elite to a meeting at his transition team’s headquarters at Trump Tower.It was an awkward affair.
Facebook’s Sheryl #Sandberg, Google’s Larry #Page and Amazon’s Jeff #Bezos had facial expressions that ranged from a semi-rictus grin to full tech-mogul-in-a-hostage-situation.But then, in a sense they were. There was a new sheriff in town – and none of them had seen him coming.
But one person was in his element. Seated next to Trump, uncomplicatedly beaming, was a South African-born tech entrepreneur whose early investment in Facebook had made him billions.
And if this past week marked an inflection point, and there are many reasons to believe it did,
the seeds of it were planted in the summer of 2016.This was when Trump was the outside candidate. The man no respectable west coast tech entrepreneur or east coast business elite wanted to touch.
Last week marked a decisive end to that era.
A week in which Donald Trump not only appointed a #tech #bro to be his second in command, choosing Senator JD #Vance to be his VP,
but in which he received the benediction of the tech bro-in-chief, #Elon #Musk.Musk has said he will donate
💥 $45m a month to Trump’s campaign,
💥though his ongoing endorsement on X,
the platform he bought and owns, is worth countless millions more.But it’s some lesser-known figures in Silicon Valley who last week boarded the Trump bandwagon who are perhaps even more telling.
#Marc #Andreessen and #Ben #Horowitz, who own one of the most storied and influential venture capital (VC) firms in Silicon Valley,
have declared they’re all in for Trump alongside a host of lesser-known but important names who have either followed suit or who beat them to the punch,
including the #Winklevoss twins and investors and podcast hosts #Chamath #Palihapitiya and #David #Sacks.Back in 2016, Peter Thiel was the voice in the wilderness. And in that meeting in Trump Tower, it was Thiel’s hand that Trump picked up and stroked.
(And whose data mining firm, #Palantir, picked up billions of dollars in contracts from Trump’s Department of Defense, and, most controversially, Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, where it profiled and surveilled migrants.)
The principle that underpins Silicon Valley investing is to bet early and bet big.
It worked for Thiel with Facebook. It worked for Thiel with Trump. And last week another of his bets paid off, though few could ever have predicted how spectacularly.
Because JD #Vance, the new potential VP, is Thiel’s creature.
He is a man Thiel moulded in his own image through lavish investments in his business and political careers.
Thiel gave Vance a job at his VC firm, #Mithril #Capital, backed him to start his own venture fund, #Narya #Capital, then later invested $15m in his successful run for the senate.
Max Chafkin, Thiel’s biographer, describes Vance as his “extension”. -
Tech broligarchs are lining up to court Trump. And Vance is one more link in the chain
Less than a month after Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016,
he invited the cream of Silicon Valley's #tech #elite to a meeting at his transition team’s headquarters at Trump Tower.It was an awkward affair.
Facebook’s Sheryl #Sandberg, Google’s Larry #Page and Amazon’s Jeff #Bezos had facial expressions that ranged from a semi-rictus grin to full tech-mogul-in-a-hostage-situation.But then, in a sense they were. There was a new sheriff in town – and none of them had seen him coming.
But one person was in his element. Seated next to Trump, uncomplicatedly beaming, was a South African-born tech entrepreneur whose early investment in Facebook had made him billions.
And if this past week marked an inflection point, and there are many reasons to believe it did,
the seeds of it were planted in the summer of 2016.This was when Trump was the outside candidate. The man no respectable west coast tech entrepreneur or east coast business elite wanted to touch.
Last week marked a decisive end to that era.
A week in which Donald Trump not only appointed a #tech #bro to be his second in command, choosing Senator JD #Vance to be his VP,
but in which he received the benediction of the tech bro-in-chief, #Elon #Musk.Musk has said he will donate
💥 $45m a month to Trump’s campaign,
💥though his ongoing endorsement on X,
the platform he bought and owns, is worth countless millions more.But it’s some lesser-known figures in Silicon Valley who last week boarded the Trump bandwagon who are perhaps even more telling.
#Marc #Andreessen and #Ben #Horowitz, who own one of the most storied and influential venture capital (VC) firms in Silicon Valley,
have declared they’re all in for Trump alongside a host of lesser-known but important names who have either followed suit or who beat them to the punch,
including the #Winklevoss twins and investors and podcast hosts #Chamath #Palihapitiya and #David #Sacks.Back in 2016, Peter Thiel was the voice in the wilderness. And in that meeting in Trump Tower, it was Thiel’s hand that Trump picked up and stroked.
(And whose data mining firm, #Palantir, picked up billions of dollars in contracts from Trump’s Department of Defense, and, most controversially, Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, where it profiled and surveilled migrants.)
The principle that underpins Silicon Valley investing is to bet early and bet big.
It worked for Thiel with Facebook. It worked for Thiel with Trump. And last week another of his bets paid off, though few could ever have predicted how spectacularly.
Because JD #Vance, the new potential VP, is Thiel’s creature.
He is a man Thiel moulded in his own image through lavish investments in his business and political careers.
Thiel gave Vance a job at his VC firm, #Mithril #Capital, backed him to start his own venture fund, #Narya #Capital, then later invested $15m in his successful run for the senate.
Max Chafkin, Thiel’s biographer, describes Vance as his “extension”. -
Tech broligarchs are lining up to court Trump. And Vance is one more link in the chain
Less than a month after Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016,
he invited the cream of Silicon Valley's #tech #elite to a meeting at his transition team’s headquarters at Trump Tower.It was an awkward affair.
Facebook’s Sheryl #Sandberg, Google’s Larry #Page and Amazon’s Jeff #Bezos had facial expressions that ranged from a semi-rictus grin to full tech-mogul-in-a-hostage-situation.But then, in a sense they were. There was a new sheriff in town – and none of them had seen him coming.
But one person was in his element. Seated next to Trump, uncomplicatedly beaming, was a South African-born tech entrepreneur whose early investment in Facebook had made him billions.
And if this past week marked an inflection point, and there are many reasons to believe it did,
the seeds of it were planted in the summer of 2016.This was when Trump was the outside candidate. The man no respectable west coast tech entrepreneur or east coast business elite wanted to touch.
Last week marked a decisive end to that era.
A week in which Donald Trump not only appointed a #tech #bro to be his second in command, choosing Senator JD #Vance to be his VP,
but in which he received the benediction of the tech bro-in-chief, #Elon #Musk.Musk has said he will donate
💥 $45m a month to Trump’s campaign,
💥though his ongoing endorsement on X,
the platform he bought and owns, is worth countless millions more.But it’s some lesser-known figures in Silicon Valley who last week boarded the Trump bandwagon who are perhaps even more telling.
#Marc #Andreessen and #Ben #Horowitz, who own one of the most storied and influential venture capital (VC) firms in Silicon Valley,
have declared they’re all in for Trump alongside a host of lesser-known but important names who have either followed suit or who beat them to the punch,
including the #Winklevoss twins and investors and podcast hosts #Chamath #Palihapitiya and #David #Sacks.Back in 2016, Peter Thiel was the voice in the wilderness. And in that meeting in Trump Tower, it was Thiel’s hand that Trump picked up and stroked.
(And whose data mining firm, #Palantir, picked up billions of dollars in contracts from Trump’s Department of Defense, and, most controversially, Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, where it profiled and surveilled migrants.)
The principle that underpins Silicon Valley investing is to bet early and bet big.
It worked for Thiel with Facebook. It worked for Thiel with Trump. And last week another of his bets paid off, though few could ever have predicted how spectacularly.
Because JD #Vance, the new potential VP, is Thiel’s creature.
He is a man Thiel moulded in his own image through lavish investments in his business and political careers.
Thiel gave Vance a job at his VC firm, #Mithril #Capital, backed him to start his own venture fund, #Narya #Capital, then later invested $15m in his successful run for the senate.
Max Chafkin, Thiel’s biographer, describes Vance as his “extension”. -
Tech broligarchs are lining up to court Trump. And Vance is one more link in the chain
Less than a month after Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016,
he invited the cream of Silicon Valley's #tech #elite to a meeting at his transition team’s headquarters at Trump Tower.It was an awkward affair.
Facebook’s Sheryl #Sandberg, Google’s Larry #Page and Amazon’s Jeff #Bezos had facial expressions that ranged from a semi-rictus grin to full tech-mogul-in-a-hostage-situation.But then, in a sense they were. There was a new sheriff in town – and none of them had seen him coming.
But one person was in his element. Seated next to Trump, uncomplicatedly beaming, was a South African-born tech entrepreneur whose early investment in Facebook had made him billions.
And if this past week marked an inflection point, and there are many reasons to believe it did,
the seeds of it were planted in the summer of 2016.This was when Trump was the outside candidate. The man no respectable west coast tech entrepreneur or east coast business elite wanted to touch.
Last week marked a decisive end to that era.
A week in which Donald Trump not only appointed a #tech #bro to be his second in command, choosing Senator JD #Vance to be his VP,
but in which he received the benediction of the tech bro-in-chief, #Elon #Musk.Musk has said he will donate
💥 $45m a month to Trump’s campaign,
💥though his ongoing endorsement on X,
the platform he bought and owns, is worth countless millions more.But it’s some lesser-known figures in Silicon Valley who last week boarded the Trump bandwagon who are perhaps even more telling.
#Marc #Andreessen and #Ben #Horowitz, who own one of the most storied and influential venture capital (VC) firms in Silicon Valley,
have declared they’re all in for Trump alongside a host of lesser-known but important names who have either followed suit or who beat them to the punch,
including the #Winklevoss twins and investors and podcast hosts #Chamath #Palihapitiya and #David #Sacks.Back in 2016, Peter Thiel was the voice in the wilderness. And in that meeting in Trump Tower, it was Thiel’s hand that Trump picked up and stroked.
(And whose data mining firm, #Palantir, picked up billions of dollars in contracts from Trump’s Department of Defense, and, most controversially, Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, where it profiled and surveilled migrants.)
The principle that underpins Silicon Valley investing is to bet early and bet big.
It worked for Thiel with Facebook. It worked for Thiel with Trump. And last week another of his bets paid off, though few could ever have predicted how spectacularly.
Because JD #Vance, the new potential VP, is Thiel’s creature.
He is a man Thiel moulded in his own image through lavish investments in his business and political careers.
Thiel gave Vance a job at his VC firm, #Mithril #Capital, backed him to start his own venture fund, #Narya #Capital, then later invested $15m in his successful run for the senate.
Max Chafkin, Thiel’s biographer, describes Vance as his “extension”. -
Just what we need, a bunch of #Billionaires mucking with our elections. I'm done with these guys. Can’t we at least tax them?
“Several of Silicon Valley's noisiest tech moguls have begun to support the candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the vocal anti-vax activist who's challenging President Biden for the Democratic Party nomination.”
#jackdorsey #davidsacks #elonmusk #musk #RFKJr #PeterThiel #Trump #twitter #Kennedy #robertfkennedy #Palihapitiya #antivax #vaccine
https://www.axios.com/2023/06/08/robert-f-kennedy-jr-tech-2024-campaign