Not All Rich People Are Voting For Donald Trump

In July, The Juice told you about the movement of ultra rich people, including Elon Musk, getting behind Donald Trump’s candidacy for president:

Of course, this support includes Elon Musk’s $45 million-a-month pledge to Trump’s campaign. (But) it’s not just Musk. Trump’s tech, VC and otherwise ultra-wealthy backers also include Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, Sequoia’s Doug Leone, crypto billionaires Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and Palantir Technologies (PLTR) co-founder Joe Lonsdale. 

And we gave our take on the basis behind their support: 

No doubt, Musk and the upper echelon of the Silicon Valley crowd have amassed fortunes. 

Fortunes they want to protect. 

So, when you see this support from these people, realize it’s not populist support. It’s not even about business. It’s about power. And It’s personal. It’s about their personal finance that, even with tight regulation and new taxes, is far more secure than that of the average and even relatively well-off American.

Some of the 1% tend to be most concerned with one thing and one thing only: The condition of their pocketbooks. 

While we’re not making a judgment on a vote for Trump (or anybody else for that matter), we are saying that it’s kind of funny to see people whose money could literally last them dozens of lifetimes — even amid fast and loose spending — vote out of personal economic concern. That’s all.  

All of that said—

As The Juice continues to sprinkle politics into our newsletter schedule between now and the election and beyond — (who’s watching the debate tonight!?) — we like to look at what’s happening around both candidates. 

So we thought it would be interesting to see who among the filthy (and not-so-filthy, but still) rich are actively advocating for Kamala Harris. We also thought it would be interesting to look at some of the names and, for a few, illustrate at least one component of their wealth — stock options. 

First, there’s VC (venture capitalists) for Kamala. 

Their pitch:

We spend our days looking for, investing in and supporting entrepreneurs who are building the future. We are pro-business, pro-American dream, pro-entrepreneurship, and pro-technological progress.

We also believe in democracy as the backbone of our nation. We believe that strong, trustworthy institutions are a feature, not a bug, and that our industry – and every other industry – would collapse without them. That is what’s at stake in this election. Everything else, we can solve through constructive dialogue with political leaders and institutions willing to talk to us.

As we write this, 830 VCs have signed on. Including John O’Farrell, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, who breaks with Marc Andreessen, who has put his weight behind Trump. 

Maybe more interesting is the recent letter put out by a bunch of current and former big name CEOs of, primarily, tech, media and consumer companies who are supporting Harris. They include: former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, Barry Diller, chairman of IAC and former Paramount and Fox Inc. CEO, former Merck CEO Ken Frazier, Logan Green former CEO of Lyft, former GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving, former Ford CEO Alan Mulally, former Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan and Dan Schulman, former CEO of PayPal; a handful of hedge fund and private wealth cats; and present-day CEOs, such as Aaron Levie of Box (BOX), Jeremy Stoppelman of Yelp (YELP) and Michael Lynton, chairman of Snap (SNAP).

Let’s look at the last three. Most of us probably never heard of these dudes prior to this. But they’re still doing pretty well financially, thanks, in part, to company stock options. 

Consider Levie of Box. His company’s stock is up about 25% YTD. 

Levie isn’t Jeff Bezos or Musk, but we’re not sneezing at the $1.349 million in stock compensation proceeds he has cashed in since December, 2022. 

Then Stoppelman from Yelp. His stock is down 27% YTD. Dude might want to focus on something other than politics. 

Anyway, a crappy stock price (it’s basically flat over the last five years) hasn’t stopped Stoppelman from reaping more than $42 million in proceeds from Yelp stock since 2023. Wouldn’t it be nice if ordinary shareholders benefited as much from Yelp stock than its CEO does?

Meanwhile at Snap, whose stock is down a hefty 47% this year. Lynton — poor guy — has only cashed in $738,000 from his company’s horrific stock since 2023. 

Stock-based compensation. It’s a wonderful thing. But it’s sort of a kick in the stomach if you’re a shareholder of a stagnant or falling stock. 

Maybe Kamala Harris will try to do something about the practice if she takes office? Or Trump? On both counts, we’re not holding our breath. 

The Bottom Line: Rich people from Silicon Valley and corporate America. They won’t decide this election from their perches in places such as California or New York. Interestingly, it’s people in places such as Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin who will. 

And The Juice has to think that these are some of the very same people who would take exception to the freakin’ CEO of Yelp barking about politics with his pen as his stock dives and his bank breaks to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.

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