Rocket Lab backer among tech titans spending the most to beat Donald Trump

Technology Editor/Senior Business Writer·NZ Herald·

27 Oct, 2020 11:38 PM2 mins to read

Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, whose invesments include a stake in NZ-based Rocket Labs. Photo / Getty Images

Rocket Lab investor Vinod Khosla has made Recode's list of the 15 tech moguls who have donated the most to efforts to defeat US President Donald Trump and his allies.

The publication says the billionaire Silicon Valley venture capitalist has given US$3.1 million ($4.4m) to American Bridge, a PAC (political action committee) that focuses on anti-Trump "opposition research" - sometimes a euphemism for digging dirt.

Other big names on the list include LinkedIn founder and Microsoft director Reid Hoffman, ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and Netflix boss Reed Hastings and his wife Patty Quillin.

Palantir cofounder, Facebook director and Kiwi passport holder Peter Thiel was Donald Trump's biggest Silicon Valley backer in 2016, but has stayed on the sidelines this year. Photo / Getty Images

Recode doesn't cover the other side of the fence, but a number of other publications have noted that according to FEC filings, one of the president's few Silicon Valley backers from 2016 - Facebook director and NZ citizen Peter Thiel - has not donated a penny to Trump this cycle. Thiel hasn't commented. The rumour mill holds the billionaire became disillusioned with the president's handling of the Covid crisis.

Elsewhere, Trump gets a smattering of support. Apple vice president and associate general counsel Douglas Vetter has donated US$208,000 to organisations including the Trump Victory Fund. And former Sun Microsystems CEO has chipped in $111,200.

Silicon Valley's highest-profile Republicans, Oracle founder Larry Ellison and former HP boss Meg Whitman, both boycotted Trump in 2016 and have kept their chequebooks in their pockets this year, too - at least where Republicans are concerned. Whitman has donated a little over US$700,000 to pro-Biden funds.