Eriq Gardner • May 16, 2022

Elon’s Other Legal Headache

While Musk plays hardball with Twitter, risking a lawsuit from the board, Texas threatens to transform his free speech utopia into a forcibly unconstrained, heavily regulated hellhole.

Theodore Schleifer • 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.

Theodore Schleifer • 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.

Theodore Schleifer • April 26, 2022

Tales from the PayPal Mafia: Elon’s Hatchet Man & Thiel’s Test

Notes on the B.Y.U. alum running Musk’s family office and Thiel’s next moves. Plus, new details on how Reid Hoffman plans to kneecap the Berniecrats.

Baratunde Thurston • April 21, 2022

How Twitter Became Twitter

Twitter, which was once a peer with Facebook, is now 1/15th its size, and its most fastidious user is trying to take it private, while everyone—Democrats, Republicans, mom-fluencers, journalists—hates the damn thing despite their own contrary addictions. Herewith, an anatomy of a social media tragedy.

Theodore Schleifer • April 19, 2022

The Peter Thiel D.C. Gateway Drug

With two weeks until the Ohio G.O.P. primary, Thiel is on a hot streak and doubling down on J.D. Vance. A win could invigorate the billionaire’s national ambitions. A loss could relegate him to Miami—and send thirsty Republicans reeling.

William D. Cohan • April 13, 2022

The Elon-Twitter Corporate Hostage Negotiation

Twitter has been at war with itself since its inception. But Elon Musk’s stock accumulation arms race is an existential crisis.

Theodore Schleifer • April 12, 2022

The Right’s MacKenzie Scott Problem

After decades of G.O.P. dark-money supremacy, the arrival of liberal mega-billionaires like Scott and Zuckerberg is fueling a MAGA-inspired woke backlash that threatens the institution of philanthropy itself.

Eriq Gardner • April 11, 2022

Elon Musk and the Three Libel Suits

Twitter’s newest activist investor could be called to testify this week at Johnny Depp defamation trial against his ex-wife, Amber Heard. If it happens, it wouldn’t be his first time on the stand.

Theodore Schleifer • April 5, 2022

Notes from the Steyerverse

For the first time in a decade, Tom Steyer, the billionaire hedge funder-turned-Democratic power forward, is no longer working in politics full-time. Inside his Bloombergian afterlife—and who might rise up in his place.

Eriq Gardner • April 1, 2022

How to Make and Lose Millions in an E-Sports Coup

FaZe Clan, a gaming and influencer entertainment company, is trying to clean up its image before going public at a $1 billion valuation. Its legal filings reveal a far messier backstory.

Baratunde Thurston • March 31, 2022

See You in the Metaverse

My recent trip to Austin for SXSW offered a number of startling realizations. First off, web3 is going to be bigger than we ever imagined. It may also, finally, be the internet platform that makes the world a better place.

Theodore Schleifer • March 29, 2022

One-on-One with Silicon Valley’s Enemy No. 1

An interview with San Francisco’s embattled, ambitious, tech-squabbling prosecutor on the media, billionaires, and the recall. Is he the victim of an organized smear campaign—or is he just bad at his job?

Theodore Schleifer • March 22, 2022

Mini-Benioff Makes His Mega-Play

Behind the scenes, Twilio C.E.O. Jeff Lawson and his wife Erica have been making strategic moves in the big-money world of Democratic politics. This is the inside story of their first major project.

Theodore Schleifer • March 15, 2022

Yuri’s Red Line & The Chesa Money Bomb

Milner, the formerly oligarch-friendly V.C., appears to have decisively closed the door on Russia. Plus, insider updates on San Francisco’s venture-fueled recall campaign and a diplomatic breakthrough in Biden’s megadonor embargo.