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Source: Undercurrent Waves
In the early morning of November 6th local time, Trump announced his victory in the 2024 presidential election.
This can even be said to be the most stalemate presidential election ever, with polls once frozen between 49% and 49%.So this is a bet that only came to an end at the last moment.
There are not only two candidates sitting at both ends of the gambling game, but also hundreds of investors behind them.At the moment the result was revealed, there were destined to be winners and losers.
But that’s exactly what VCs who have dealt with wins and losses have been good at for decades.
After the dust settled, we uncovered another dark line of investment. The operations of Silicon Valley VCs in this political bet often coincide with their usual investment style.
Investors supporting Trump
Behind Trump, there are many top VC leaders in Silicon Valley, who are mostly close to cryptocurrencies and AI in their investment strategies.The Biden/Democratic government’s regulatory policies on the cryptocurrency field are the reason why many of them turn against each other, and some even say that this is a “revenge of money in the currency circle.”
The support for Trump was once a matter of “making people lose friends” and “demonized by the media”, but after more and more Silicon Valley bigwigs ended, this is no longer a problem.
>Two partners of A16Z: I believe he is more beneficial to technology and startups
(Photo source: A16Z Youtube_Trump Vs. Biden: Tech Policy)
After the bullet rubbed Trump’s right ear, two founders of A16Z, one of Silicon Valley’s most famous venture capitalists, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, decided to turn to vote for TesTrump.
They announced on their podcast that they would invest millions of dollars in support of the election, and explained the reasons behind it: The two believe that Trump’s policies are more beneficial to tech and startups than the regulatory strategies of Biden and the Democratic administration.Development, they particularly highlight emerging technology fields such as blockchain, cryptocurrencies and AI.
In fact, until the late 2010s, A16Z tried to keep her political distance, but with many of its invested companies, including Lyft, Airbnb, etc., clashing with government regulations, the two founders realized that they actually had no choice.This strong feeling happened especially after the A16Z entered the cryptocurrency space in 2019.
Also voted for Trump for cryptocurrency is Cameron Winklevoss, the founder of Gemini, who once publicly stated: “People who support Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and business should vote for Trump, and he will end the Biden administration.Suppression of cryptocurrencies.”
Another reason for the A16Z’s attitude change may be Harris’ plan to tax the rich. According to the information, the Horowitz couple has been deeply influenced by the “hate of the rich” sentiment on social networks during the COVID-19 pandemic, so they moved.Go to a heavily guarded and closed community.
Later, Horowitz said frustratedly on the podcast: “The rich are scolded just because they donate their money to charity rather than paying more taxes.”
>Peter Till(Peter Thiel): Although he hates it, I need him
However, after Trump took office, Peter Thiel publicly expressed his disappointment in him.Until this summer, Peter Thiel changed his posture again, saying toughly that “even if someone pointed a gun at him, he would still throw it to Trump”, and also said that he would not support it financially.
Peter Thiel’s biographer, and perhaps the person who knows him best in the world, interprets this changing position:
If you look back at the way Peter Thiel supports Trump, you will find that he is not endorsing, but expressing “Although he hates it, overall we need him.”Peter Thiel’s contact with Trump was smart. As an early investor, he was able to take his influence and power to a new level and then withdraw early – during Trump’s presidency.He cashed out and left the scene before the scandal collapsed.
(Photo source: IC photo)
As a former investor, Vance’s investment resume is not very dazzling, but his luck finally stood on his side.
In 2016, when the book “The Lesson of the Countryman” that later made him famous was about to be published, Vance also got a chance to work for the venture capital company Mithril, the boss behind it was Peter Till.
Peter Thiel was a role model for Vance during his university years. Because of this, Vance later founded Narya Capital and invested in a series of conservative technology companies. The only thing worthy of praise is that Youtube invested with Peter Thiel was actually good at it.——Rumble, which will be launched in 2022.
Later, Vance turned to politics, Peter Thiel donated $15 million to support Vance in the campaign. Peter Thiel even introduced Vance to him at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, and eventually helped Vance.Become his campaign mate.
Max believes that although the two are not the relationship between the manipulator and the puppet, Till is more like he recognizes Vance’s unique advantages and becomes his A-round investor in the early stages.
(Photo source: Forbes magazine cover)
Bill Ackerman, the man who is known as the most profitable man on Wall Street, is one of the prototypes of the TV series “Billionaire”. He became famous for shorting MBIA and later bet on the world’s largest black swan in the new crown epidemic, making 40 yuan.$100 million.
His investment principle is: “When investing, you must make bold decisions that no one believes.”
Ackerman, who had donated at least $1 million to the Democratic Party, announced on the day of the Trump shooting that he would instead support Trump.
A few months later, he posted a long article explaining in detail the reasons for his choice.Interesting thing, although Trump is indicated in the title, Ackerman has 33 articles in the article, telling the crimes of the Democratic Party/Biden administration.
When Ackerman made his choice, he was not as radical and non-consensus as his investment actions, but contradicted the mentality of most venture capitalists in Silicon Valley: they don’t like Trump, but they just hate the Biden administration even more..
As Palanti Joe Lonsdale, who made $1 million donation to Trump, said: Silicon Valley has too many reasons to oppose the Biden administration, such as taxing unrealized capital gains, such as slowing transactions, and harming startupsthe interests and so on.
Maguire is a partner of Sequoia Capital (USA) and a former Democratic Party funder. In 2016, he decided to support Hillary Clinton.But in May this year, after Trump was convicted of the “Russia Gate”, Maguire announced that he would donate $300,000 to Trump.
He then posted X and said: This time is by no means a coincidence.It is the decision he made at the risk of “losing friends” and “demonizing by the media”.
Sequoia, the United States also supports Trump, Doug Leon, the second-generation leader of Sequoia, announced his retirement in 2022.
It is worth mentioning that Michael Moritz, another partner of Sequoia Capital, is a Harris/Democratic supporter.
(Photo source: Getty Images)
Schwarzman and Trump have known each other for more than 40 years. The New York Times once reported that the person Trump seeks most often in the business world is Blackstone, “The first place on any list is always Su Shimin.”
Although, a week after Trump lost to Biden in 2020, Su Shimin issued a statement announcing his support for the Biden administration.But after this year’s midterm elections, Blackstone still revealed the news of his support for Trump to the media. In the letter, Su Shimin said that the sharp rise in anti-Semitism was what he was most worried about.
The Jews standing behind Trump also have two hedge fund founders, Nelson Peltz and John Paulson.The former’s daughter married Beckham’s eldest son, while the latter made $4 billion in betting on the subprime mortgage crash.
Investors who support Harris
>Mark Cuban(Mark Cuban): The person who can build momentum the most
(Photo source: IC photo)
Mark Cuban is one of the most well-known investors in the United States, spanning multiple fields. He invested in Broadbast in his early years and later bought the NBA Dallas Mavericks. In addition, he also starred in “Sharp 3”.
He founded a donation group for Harris with 100 venture capital entrepreneurs, including investors Chris Sacca, Katie Stanton of Moxxie Ventures, Eva Ho of Fika Ventures, and Rebecca Kaden of Union Square Ventures.
“We are looking for, investing and supporting entrepreneurs who are building the future every day…We also believe that democracy is the backbone of our country,” the venture capitalists said in an open petition.
But Mark Cuban, who is worth 44 billion yuan, does not seem to donate in person.
(Photo source: CNN)
Hoffman is a famous member of the “PayPal Gang”. As an early COO of PayPal, he started LinkedIn after joining Peter Thiel in the company and sold it to eBay. He started his career after he retired.Venture capital, now worth $3 billion, is one of the most influential venture capitalists in Silicon Valley.
Hoffman and Netflix founder Hastin are the two largest funders on Harris, each donating $7 million.
Hoffman made only one request, which was to remove the current Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chairman Lina Khan: “There is no problem with antitrust, and declaring war on enterprises is another matter.”
FTC is the biggest headache for Silicon Valley technology giants today. At the beginning of this year, FTC launched an investigation into Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI, believing that it blocks innovation in the field of AI, and FTC is still considering including the recent hot AI trend in the survey.Plans to abolish the competition agreement across the United States.
(Photo source: IC photo)
In addition to donations, Soros and his son quickly acquired Audacy, which was bankrupt and reorganized, and 227 radio stations under his jurisdiction, in order to help Harris build momentum in public opinion.In response, Trump’s largest “sponsor” Musk also sarcastically said on X that “Harris is Soros’ next puppet.”
Maintaining his own business empire is the core purpose of every businessman’s choice to participate in this political game. It is not a secret. It is just that Soros, who has always been known as the “financial vulture”, acts in a big way, which is inevitable that he will attract attention.
Soros has had five short-selling operations to snipe other currencies: sniping the pound, “beating the Bank of England”, and making a net profit of $650 million.Shorting the Thai baht, as well as a series of emerging economic powers such as Indonesia and Malay.
But in the huge battlefield of the Asian financial crisis, Soros really fought against several countries with one person, but in the end he fell into a wrong prediction of the political situation in Hong Kong.
It’s hard to say whether this bet on Harris is another Waterloo for Soros.
(Photo source: Wikipedia)
He has the same Indian background as Harris, and after Biden decided to withdraw from the election, he publicly expressed his support for Harris.He wrote on X: “Now all the people who ‘not support MAGA’ are united to support Harris’ defeat of Trump, save our democracy, reject bad values, reject the 2025 plan and the dictatorship Trump lovesIt’s time.”
