Biden Beats Trump In Another Demographic—Billionaires

Plus: Biden Beats Trump In Another Demographic—Billionaires

Donald Trump may be worth $2.5 billion, but that doesn’t mean his fellow billionaires all like him. In fact, more members of the upper crust donated to Joe Biden in the 2020 election than Trump, according to a Forbes investigation of federal filings. But Trump’s backers did tend to spend more freely, shelling out about $100,000 more than Biden’s donors, on average.

Following The Money

The 230 billionaires who supported Biden’s campaign run the gamut, and include well-known celebrities, scions of the country’s wealthiest families, and Wall Street and Silicon Valley moguls. While some were happy to cut a check, others, like real estate billionaire George Marcus and former Democratic presidential hopeful Tom Steyer, took a more active role and hosted events for Biden. Here is the complete list of  billionaires who backed Biden for president.

On Tuesday, 3,800 sticks of dynamite blew up the Trump Plaza and Casino in Atlantic City, four decades after Trump first entered the city with big dreams. Trump promised lots of jobs but ended up stiffing contractors and taking his casinos into bankruptcy over and over again.

Rush Limbaugh, the right wing radio firebrand, died on Wednesday after a battle with lung cancer. An early pioneer of syndicated radio, Limbaugh talked his way to pre-tax earnings of more than $1 billion over his three-decade career, according to Forbes estimates.

After the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, Amazon discontinued hosting Parler, a Twitter alternative that became a home for right-wing agitation. About a month later, Parler returned, now hosted by SkySilk. There were some severe technical difficulties, however, preventing users from logging in.

Vivek Garipalli, the CEO and founder of Clover Health is in hot water with the Department of Justice and the SEC over allegations that his company, which sells private Medicare Advantage plans, illegally incentivized doctors to use its software. Last Friday, Forbes revealed that Walgreens Boots Alliance was an investor in a Clover subsidiary. Garipalli called Jennings 35 minutes after the story went live, launching into an expletive-filled tirade where he refused to answer questions about SeekMedicare’s ownership and positioned himself as an underdog in the healthcare industry.

Cashing In On Contracts

The global consulting firm McKinsey & Company has agreed to pay $574 million to settle investigations into its role in the opioid crisis in 47 states, the District of Columbia and five territories, a court filing showed on February 3. The firm, which was founded in 1926 by a University of Chicago professor and is now present in 130 countries, has not only consulted major corporations but also governments across the world, from Mongolia to the U.S. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the federal government has paid McKinsey more than $75 million for services including auditing monetary relief distributed to healthcare providers under the CARES Act, consulting the Department of Veteran Affairs on its Covid services, and helping the Department of Defense with requests for medical resources.

Meet The Donor

The $32.5 billion Pritzker family, who owe their fortune to Hyatt hotels, is one of Chicago’s most powerful clans. In fact, one member of the family, J.B. Pritzker, serves as governor of Illinois and also currently holds the title of richest politician in the United States (net worth: $3.4 billion). In the 2020 presidential election cycle, J.B. and nearly a dozen other family members gave more than $2.3 million to President Biden’s campaign.

EDITOR'S PICKS

Presidents’ Day Special: Women Over 50 Who’ve Run For The Oval Office

As Trump's Businesses Struggle, The Most Profitable Asset In His Real Estate Empire Is At Risk

How A Leading Anti-Trump Group Ignored A Crisis In Its Ranks

What To Watch