Business leaders and billionaires react to Biden’s withdrawal from the race

Elon Musk posted on X shortly after Biden announced his withdrawal: “I believe in an America that maximizes individual freedom and empowerment. That used to be the case with the Democrats, but now the pendulum has swung to the Republicans.”

“My smartest friends, including many lifelong Democrats in the San Francisco Bay Area, are excited about the Trump/Vance candidacy,” he added.

Musk said: Praise yourself and praise X When Biden made his announcement, “Fully” supports Donald Trump Last Saturday, some Silicon Valley’s top investors Support the former president.

Entrepreneur Mark Cuban was one of the first business figures to react to Biden’s announcement, posting on X, “Father Time Can’t Lose.”

Cuban said he continues to support Biden after his performance in the presidential debate.

“I think one of the two candidates would be a good salesperson to hire because he’s great at putting people at ease and quickly communicating what he’s selling,” Cuban says. Said About Trump in X post.

“Biden says he will address the nation later this week,” David Sachs, an entrepreneur and founder of venture capital fund Craft Ventures, posted on X shortly after Biden’s announcement. “Why not now? This was rushed. Pelosi wanted Biden out of office now.”

Sachs continued by posting to X: “First they said there was nothing wrong with Biden. Then they threatened to destroy him if he didn’t drop out of the race. And now they’re calling him a ‘hero’. How can you not be sick of people like this?”

In a third post, Sachs said Democratic leaders “believe in elections, not elections.”

Sachs, a one-time supporter of Democrat Hillary Clinton, helped organize a $12 million fundraising drive for Trump in June and donated $1 million to the Ohio Senate campaign of vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance.

Brad Smith, Microsoft president and vice chairman, posted on X that Biden has “dedicated his life to public service, and today’s announcement is another example of that dedication.”

“I want to thank him for all he has accomplished and for his continued service leading up to Inauguration Day. Microsoft looks forward to working with his administration in the remaining months of his term.”

Smith recently testified before the House Homeland Security Committee about security missteps at Microsoft, which came under fire on Friday after a faulty update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike caused a global outage.

LinkedIn co-founder and chairman Reid Hoffman posted on X that Joe Biden is “a leader who will act with America’s best interests in mind.”

“Not seeking reelection is one of the most selfless acts by a politician in modern American history,” he continued. “It’s the right thing to do for our country and the future of our democracy.”

Hoffman added that Harris is “the right person at the right time” and noted that Trump and Vance’s policies would “wreak havoc on the American people.”

“Faced with the choice between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, I trust the American people will make the right decision for our country,” he wrote. “The Biden-Harris Administration has put our country in the right direction. Now is the time for us to come together. In the fight for democracy in November, I wholeheartedly support Kamala Harris and her candidacy for President of the United States.”

In January, Hoffman donated $2 million to Granite for America, the super PAC that led Biden’s secret ballot campaign in New Hampshire.

“Democratic delegates need to pick the winners of battleground states,” Netflix co-founder and chairman Reed Hastings wrote on X.

Hastings was one of several major Democratic donors who called on Biden not to run again.

“Biden needs to step aside and let strong Democratic leadership defeat Trump and get us all safe and prosperous,” he previously told The New York Times.

Mark Zuckerberg did not directly address Biden’s decision, but he did post a nature photo by water in the thread with the caption “Calm boating before a big week.”

in Interview with BloombergMehta’s CEO said the response to Donald Trump’s shooting has been “incredible,” but he is not endorsing Trump.

Zuckerberg also said that the owners of Facebook and Instagram would continue to limit the politically-related content users see in their feeds.

Vinod Khosla, the billionaire investor behind OpenAI and co-founder of Sun Microsystems, wrote on X that Democrats should look for a “more moderate candidate” who can beat President Trump.

He noted that Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro “will be great for America to no longer be held hostage between MAGA extremists and DEI extremists.”

In response to the comments supporting Trump, Khosla replied, “It’s hard for me to support someone who has no values, lies, cheats, rapes, degrades women and hates immigrants like me. He may cut my taxes or reduce regulations, but that’s no reason to accept the degradation of his personal values. Do I want a president who sets the climate back 10 years in his first year in office? Do I want my children to model their values ​​on him?”

“President Biden’s departure from office is a wise, principled decision by a wise, principled man, which will give the next generation the opportunity to lead America and humanity forward,” Virgin Group co-founder and businessman Richard Branson said on X.

“Now is the time for the president to consider what is at stake and step aside from running for office again,” Branson wrote on Virgin’s website earlier this month, adding that the president “still has much to contribute to the world.”

Andrew Yang, a businessman who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, wrote on X that Biden had shown “great leadership” and called the Democratic National Committee “a big step forward.”“We will provide equal leadership through an open process to determine the best candidate to face Trump in November.”

“The goal is simply to win,” he added, and in another post, the way to do that was:“He’s a candidate who has broader support than Trump and has a chance of winning.”

Melinda French Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a philanthropist, is X, while Biden is “He deserves enormous gratitude for his decades of public service and the effective leadership he provided from the White House at a particularly critical time for the nation.”

French Gates praised Biden’s efforts to get the economy back on track, lead the U.S. through the pandemic and work toward equality and opportunity for all Americans. She also highlighted his work to advocate for women and girls.

“We already know what the Trump administration is like. We cannot put a new administration at risk,” she wrote.

French Gates formally endorsed Biden in June, marking his first time endorsing a presidential candidate.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff didn’t post anything on X, but he did repost a Time magazine article about Biden’s election withdrawal, with Kamala Harris entering the frame as Joe Biden exits.

Benioff last week I wanted “I pray for President Trump’s full and speedy recovery,” he said, adding, “May his body be healed, his mind calmed and his soul comforted. May he be blessed with strength and courage and regain his health quickly. There is no place for political violence in our country.”