THE LATEST ARTICLES
SILICON VALLEY
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July 5, 2022
The Passion of S.B.F. & The Next MacKenzie
Notes on the crypto king’s web3 bailout and Semafor media ambitions. Plus my conversation with Nicole Shanahan, who could be the next MacKenzie Scott.
SILICON VALLEY
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June 28, 2022
Silicon D.C.’s Post-Crash Reckoning
The inside conversation about Elon’s beef with MacKenzie, S.B.F.’s investment in Semafor, and the true story behind Eric Schmidt and Peter Thiel’s military-industrial collaboration.
SILICON VALLEY
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June 21, 2022
Thiel vs. Hoffman: Stanford Takes Toledo
A thirty-year political debate is unfurling in Ohio as two Silicon Valley billionaires, and longtime friends, trade fire in a proxy battle that will shape the next era of big-money politics.
SILICON VALLEY
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June 14, 2022
S.B.F.’s Media Dreams
Like previous mega-successful billionaires, the 30-year-old metal-haired crypto king is becoming media-curious. Plus new reporting from inside the Web3-political-fundraising industrial complex and some Harris-Biden fundraising dish.
SILICON VALLEY
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June 7, 2022
Sheryl’s Political Headwinds, Thiel’s Sway, & Gates+
Recent notes and observations from the increasingly competitive intersection of wealth, philanthropy, and political ambition.
SILICON VALLEY
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May 31, 2022
Billionaires at The Gates
This week’s Giving Pledge gathering, the foundation’s first in-person since 2019, may be the most exclusive leg of the global ultra-high-net-worth circuit. And it’s got the elite philanthropy world humming: a likely appearance by MacKenzie, Bill & Melinda, and the fact that it is principals-only.
SILICON VALLEY
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May 24, 2022
Bezos, Musk, Ellison, and the Rightward Lurch of Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley has always been declaratively liberal, particularly during the high times of the Obama era. But the political tenor has been quietly moving rightward for years, punctuated of late by the declarations of three of its heaviest heavies.
SILICON VALLEY
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May 18, 2022
Inside S.B.F.’s $12 Million Long Shot
Crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried lost big on Tuesday despite airdropping a historic sum into a congressional race in Oregon. What was he thinking? The logic, the math, and the aftermath.
SILICON VALLEY
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May 10, 2022
After Elon: Inside Larry Ellison’s New G.O.P.
In his twilight years, the yacht-racing, barrel-chested, private-island-dwelling former Democrat is helping to liberate Twitter from the left and placing a massive bet on what could be an unlikely Republican 2024 contender.
SILICON VALLEY
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May 3, 2022
Elon’s Eccentric Empire
With ingenuity and insane leverage, Elon Musk has created one of the world’s most unconventional financial concerns. Maybe the Twitter deal, against that backdrop, actually makes perfect sense.