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Business leaders are speaking out on Election Day — including Starbucks founder Howard Schultz.
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Schultz and JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon called for unity. Neither has endorsed a candidate.
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Elon Musk and Reid Hoffman are reiterating their support for Trump and Harris, respectively, too.
Election Day has finally come, and executives at some of the biggest companies are speaking out — with former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz urging a peaceful transition of power and Elon Musk reiterating his support for Donald Trump to the end.
Major players like Musk and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman have previously endorsed former President Trump. On the other side, business heavyweights like billionaire Shark Tank star Mark Cuban and LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman have been campaigning for Vice President Kamala Harris.
While some business leaders have been voicing their political opinions ahead of Election Day, others have been reluctant: As Business Insider’s Bryan Metzger recently wrote, some of that hesitancy could be driven by fears of retribution from Trump if he’s reelected — or could simply be based on the belief that wading into politics is bad for business.
Here’s what some of the biggest business leaders in the US are saying Tuesday ahead of the election results:
Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz
Howard Schultz, who served several tenures as CEO of Starbucks over the course of four decades, took to LinkedIn on Tuesday to emphasize the gravity of this election and urge a peaceful transition of power.
“Make no mistake, this election is the most consequential decision our citizenry will take,” Schultz wrote in his post.
“Once every vote is counted and certified, we must accept the results of the election and ensure the peaceful transition of power,” he said. “In an age of rapid information distribution infecting so many of us with false narratives and lies, we have to remind each other of our founding ethos as a country.”
While the former CEO has not announced his support of a presidential candidate this election cycle, he previously endorsed Joe Biden in 2020 and Hillary Clinton in 2016.
LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman
Reid Hoffman, who cofounded LinkedIn and is now a partner at VC firm Greylock Partners, posted a video message on X on Tuesday to reiterate his support of Harris.
“My message for American voters and Russian bots: don’t vote for the guy too busy selling you a scamcoin,” Hoffman wrote on X above his video message. Trump launched his own crypto coin, $WLFI, in October, following his foray into the decentralized finance market with the crypto exchange platform, World Liberty Financial.
“Vote for Vice President Harris, who knows how to put business —and the American people — first,” Hoffman’s post said.
“She understands the importance of founders,” Hoffman said of Harris in his video, adding, “She wants founders to succeed. And just for the country, not for her.”
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk
One of Trump’s most outspoken supporters and biggest donors, billionaire SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk continued his steady stream of posts on X on Tuesday.
In addition to re-posting several pro-Trump messages from other X users, Musk wrote a few election-related posts of his own.
In response to a video of MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough criticizing Trump supporters and listing a number of Trump’s more extreme statements, Musk wrote, “The legacy media hope that a hoax a day keeps DJT away. It won’t work.”
The billionaire wrote another post speculating that Trump will win Pennsylvania in a landslide if the same number of the state’s Republicans vote in person for Trump this year as they did in 2020.
Billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla
Vinod Khosla, an OpenAI investor and founder of Sun Microsystems, has pledged his support for Harris. His name is one of hundreds on the list of VCs for Kamala.
On Monday, Khosla made his opinions about Trump clear on X, criticizing the former president for suggesting he may support Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s call to ban some vaccines.
Khosla, who has previously tussled with Musk, responded on Monday to a post from the X owner that suggested all independent and swing voters are siding with Trump.
“Plain wrong,” Khosla wrote in response to Musk. “I am an independent that isn’t voting for Trump.”
Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick
Howard Lutnick, the CEO of financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald and cochair of Trump’s transition team, reaffirmed his support of the former president in identical Election Day posts on X and Truth Social.
“Today is the day. I am proud to vote for President @realDonaldTrump,” Lutnick wrote. “He will protect the American workforce, unleash our country’s ingenuity, and strengthen our economy. Join me in going to the polls and we will Make America Great Again.”
Lutnick has suggested to The Philadelphia Inquirer and to the Financial Times that loyalty to Trump will be one of the most important factors in deciding possible appointees for a second Trump administration.
And the Wall Street financier’s name has been floated as a potential member of Trump’s Cabinet for roles including Treasury Secretary or US ambassador in Jerusalem, according to Bloomberg.
JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon
JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon hasn’t publicly endorsed a candidate this year, but he called in a statement for all Americans to rally behind whoever’s elected next.
“Our country is now concluding one of the hardest fought and at times divisive elections in our recent history,” Dimon said.
“Soon it will be time for all of us to unite behind our president-elect and all of our national leaders. We must begin the work of bringing our nation together and focusing on the pressing economic and global issues before us.”
Dimon’s wife, Judith Kent, was on the campaign trail for Kamala Harris over the weekend.
Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey
Palmer Luckey — who founded defense tech company Anduril as well as VR company Oculus, which he later sold to Meta for $2 billion — urged people to get out and vote on Tuesday.
“Pokemon Go to the Polls!” Luckey wrote on X.
Luckey was one of few tech executives to support Trump during his first presidential campaign, and has criticized other Big Tech leaders for only jumping on the Trump bandwagon later in the game.
The sometimes controversial billionaire, who has said that his “big league support for Donald Trump is no secret,” has also been criticizing the Harris-Walz campaign’s Fortnite Map on X in recent days.
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth
Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s chief technology officer, posted on Threads Tuesday about his excitement that the political texting spree is coming to an end.
“Happy no more political text messages day, to those who celebrate!” Bosworth wrote on Threads, adding in a follow-up message, “(I voted weeks ago by mail. Go vote, if you haven’t already).”
Manufacturing and business leaders weigh in
The National Association of Manufacturers and more than 600 business leaders from across the manufacturing sector released a letter on Tuesday addressed to the “president-elect,” whoever that may be.
In it, the leaders pledge to work with the incoming president, while stressing the importance of national unity and a peaceful transition of power.
“The days following a hard-fought election have always been a time for healing, finding common ground and renewing our focus on what unites us as a people,” the letter said. “The peaceful transition of power is a hallmark of our democracy and is essential to ensuring continued confidence in the rule of law—a commitment that has made America exceptional.”
The letter’s signatories include executives at major companies, including General Motors, Eli Lilly, Lockheed Martin, General Mills, Johnson & Johnson, Penske, and Panasonic.
Read the original article on Business Insider
