Mark Cuban For VP? LinkedIn Founder Calls It A Bold Idea


Mark Cuban For VP? LinkedIn Founder Calls It A Bold Idea

Mark Cuban For VP? LinkedIn Founder Calls It A Bold Idea

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As the Kamala Harris campaign gains momentum, much of Silicon Valley is getting engaged in the process. Reid Hoffman, the billionaire creator of LinkedIn, was already a supporter of the Biden-Harris ticket and has donated a reported $7 million to the campaign, but in an interview with CNN, Hoffman indicated he’s ready to do much more, and he’s hoping others in tech join the cause.

Hoffman pointed out that there’s plenty of talent when it comes to the choice of a vice-presidential nominee. He namechecked Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo as potential candidates. When asked about the possibility of a business leader like Mark Cuban as vice president, Hoffman said it would be “awesome and bold.”

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Making Her Own Mark

Hoffman is looking to see Harris not just build on the legacy of the Biden presidency but take on new challenges and make her mark. He cited choosing Cuban as vice president as a way to do that. Cuban is famous not just for being on Shark Tank but also for being a shrewd investor interested in various policy issues. One that is particularly important to him is the cost of medication. He founded the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company to give people access to affordable medicines. This has also been a focus for the Biden Administration, which has worked to lower drug costs and cap the prices of several of the most widely used prescription medicines. Cuban has frequently taken on pharmacy benefit managers, including CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) on X, pointing out that they contribute to higher drug costs.

Before Biden stepped down, Mark Cuban stated that in a choice between Biden and Trump, he would always choose Biden. Cuban has been in touch with Harris’s team about another issue at the top of some people’s minds: the growing use of crypto. Like many others in tech, Cuban is hopeful that if Harris becomes president, she will be more friendly to big business and technology. This is also what Hoffman hopes for, noting that other tech community members, including Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, who donated $7 million to the Harris campaign, are backing Harris because she understands Silicon Valley and will be more favorable to the issues that large technology companies face. According to Benzinga data, Reid Hoffman’s investments include not only Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), which now owns LinkedIn, but also Aurora Innovation (NASDAQ:AUR), a company working on self-driving technology, and Joby Aviation (NYSE:JOBY), a maker of electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles.

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Hoffman has concerns about the potential for higher tariffs under a Trump presidency. He believes that even if a Harris administration raised the corporate tax, a 2 or 3% difference is far less important than having a greater sense of stability and unity. One change he hopes Harris would make is to remove Lina Khan, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission. Hoffman sees Kahn as “waging war on American business” for her aggressive stance on antitrust legislation.

Cuban, for his part, has denied any interest in being directly involved in politics. Many people speculated about what he might do next since he sold his majority interest in the Dallas Mavericks NBA team. While Cuban may not be angling for the office, people are already betting on the likelihood of his nomination. As of this report, Bet Online is giving +8000 odds of his being the nominee, which puts him on par with California Governor Gavin Newsom and above other celebrities, including George Clooney (+10,000) and Oprah Winfrey (+25,000).

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