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Home Depot co-founders Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank in 2007.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
More than 250 billionaires and spouses of billionaires have made campaign contributions to either Joe Biden or Donald Trump before Election Day, according to an analysis of the Federal Election Commission filings. Some of them are neighbors, like his Greenwich roommate, Connecticut resident Stephen Mandel Jr. (who donated to Biden), and Trump’s donor Linda McMahon, who is married to Vince McMahon. Or Dallas neighbors Margot Birmingham Perot, a Biden donor, and Kenny Troutt, who gave Trump.
Some are competitors, like Ashley Furniture founder Ron Wanek (a Trump donor) and Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah (a Biden donor). Some are even business partners. Forbes found a small group of billionaire co-founders or coworkers where at least one billionaire has donated to Trump while another has donated to Biden.
Here’s a closer look at who they are and who they support.
Stephen Schwarzman (Trump) and Hamilton James and Jonathan Gray (Biden)
In 1985, Stephen Schwarzman founded private equity giant Blackstone with Peter Peterson (who died in 2018) and made it the world’s largest acquisitions company. Schwarzman, who still runs the business as president and CEO, is one of Trump’s top supporters on Wall Street in this election, contributing at least $ 3.7 million to the committees that support Trump, the Republican National Committee and a super -PAC pro-Trump. Meanwhile, Blackstone’s heir apparent, billionaire chairman and chief operating officer Jonathan Gray, has donated, with his wife, more than $ 280,000 to joint fundraising committees that support Joe Biden and the Democratic Party.
Blackstone Executive Vice President Hamilton “Tony” James, also a billionaire, has contributed to Biden’s campaign and hosted at least one fundraiser for the former vice president this year. “It’s not about how bad Trump is, it’s about how good Joe Biden would be,” James said during a fundraiser in June, according to reports from the Biden group. “Joe Biden would restore decency to the White House.”
Bernie Marcus (Trump) and Arthur Blank (Biden)
The couple co-founded Home Depot in 1978 after being laid off from their jobs at a regional hardware store. While the two remain large shareholders in the publicly traded $ 110 billion (sales) business, they no longer work together on a regular basis. Arthur Blank owns the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, while Bernie Marcus focuses on philanthropy. A longtime Republican megadonator, Marcus has spent millions supporting Trump’s reelection and recently shelled $ 5 million for the pro-Trump super-PAC Preserve America. Blank has donated more than $ 300,000 to the committees that support Biden and the Democratic National Committee.
“While they may have had very different views on a number of political issues or candidates over the decades of their relationship, they respect and care immensely,” says a representative for Blank. Forbes. “Frankly, their relationship should be a model for America at a time like this.”
Ken Langone, another billionaire co-founder of Home Depot, donated to the Trump campaign in 2016, and his wife Elaine made a $ 5,000 contribution to Trump’s re-election in 2017, but Forbes has not found any contributions made by Langone himself to Trump or Biden this year.
Peter Thiel (Trump) and Alex Karp (Biden)
Palantir Technologies Chairman Peter Thiel spoke at the 2016 Republican Party convention and gave $ 250,000 to a committee supporting Donald Trump and the RNC in 2016. But according to FEC documents covering contributions through the 14th October, Thiel hasn’t made any new contributions to Trump in two years. Meanwhile, Thiel’s co-founder Alex Karp recently donated $ 50,000 to a committee that supports Biden and the DNC. This is not the first time the couple has split over the outcome of a presidential race. Karp, who described himself as a “progressive warrior” in a recent New York Times Magazine profile, donated to the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016.
Douglas Leone (Trump) and Michael Moritz
Douglas Leone, who is a managing partner at venture capital firm Sequoia, has donated to Republican causes for many years, but did not give Trump money in 2016. That changed last year, when he and his wife contributed $ 100,000. Trump Victory and another $ 100,000 for the pro-Trump America First Action super-PAC. That spending puts him at odds with fellow Sequoia billionaire Michael Moritz and, indeed, with much of Silicon Valley billionaires. Moritz has not contributed directly to the Biden campaign, but has invested more than $ 2 million in super-PACs like the Lincoln Anti-Trump Project and the pro-Biden groups American Bridge PAC and Pacronym.
