The Wrath at Khan - The Atlantic

Reid Hoffman , the LinkedIn founder and Democratic megadonor, seems to love almost everything about the Biden administration. And, he says, he’s “thrilled” by the prospect of a Kamala Harris presidency. That’s why he’s donating $10 million to support her campaign.

He has just one request: Fire Lina Khan. In a July interview with CNN, Hoffman accused the FTC chair of “waging war” on American business and said he hoped Harris would “replace her” if elected as president. That same week, another prominent Harris donor, the media and technology executive Barry Diller, told CNBC that Khan is a “dope” who’s against “almost anything” that would help American businesses grow.

Hoffman and Diller have plenty of personal reasons—billions, even—to oppose Khan. Hoffman sits on the board of Microsoft, whose $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard the FTC tried and failed to block. Microsoft is also being investigated by the agency for its licensing deal with an AI company that Hoffman co-founded. (In a follow-up interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Hoffman stressed that his opinion on Khan was offered in his capacity as an “expert,” not as a donor. This parsing caused Tapper to respond, incredulously, “But there aren’t, like, a hundred Reid Hoffmans!”) Some of Diller’s companies, too, are reportedly under investigation by the FTC.

Hoffman says, however, that he is motivated by concern for the little guy. The FTC under Khan has become more aggressive in seeking to block acquisitions—particularly by tech giants—than it has been in decades. The same goes for the Department of Justice Antitrust Division under Jonathan Kanter. If the agencies keep it up, Hoffman argues, then start-ups won’t be able to cash out by selling to a bigger company, and investors will stop giving them money in the first place. “That’s going to quell investment, and that’s bad for creating new competitors,” he told Tapper. (Hoffman declined to be interviewed for this article.)

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