From Elon Musk to Mark Cuban, here's what top business leaders said about Joe Biden dropping out
President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he will no longer seek the Democratic nomination, throwing his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
Not long after the announcements, business leaders took to social media to share their thoughts and feelings about Biden’s decision. Take a look at what some of the biggest names in the business world had to say about Biden stepping down from the Democratic presidential ticket.
Elon Musk
Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk seized on Biden’s announcement to share his excitement about the Republican ticket of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, in a thread of posts Sunday on X.
My smartest friends, including those living in the San Francisco Bay Area who have been lifelong Dems, are excited about Trump/Vance. I believe in an America that maximizes individual freedom and merit.
That used to be the Democratic Party, but now the pendulum has swung to the Republican Party.
Musk threw his support behind Trump on July 13 after an assassination attempt against the former president during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Mark Cuban
While he didn’t directly comment on the announcement, Mark Cuban was among the first to post a message on X addressing Biden’s decision to step down. He kept it short and sweet:
Father time is undefeated.
Amid calls for Biden to step down, Cuban — a longtime critic of former President Trump — remained steadfast in his support for the incumbent, waving off concerns about Biden’s age and fitness.
“If they were having his last wake, and it was him versus Trump, and he was being given last rites, I would still vote for Joe Biden,” Cuban told Bloomberg in March.
Bill Ackman
Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman took to X on Sunday to criticize the timing of Biden’s decision, deriding the Democratic Party as “desperate” and accusing them of abusing the democratic process.
It would have been a noble act if @POTUS Biden had stepped aside six months or a year ago. Today, it was a desperate act of a desperate party that abused the democratic process in destroying competition in the primary, misleading the American people about the fitness of the president, and executing a coup when the polls turned against the president.
Ackman also questioned whether the decision to remove Biden from the ticket actually came from the president himself, pointing to the lack of a digital signature, photo op, and press conference.
“If this were a hostage situation, that letter would not qualify as proof of life,” Ackman said.
Melinda French Gates
Melinda French Gates, who endorsed Biden’s reelection bid late last month, made a heartfelt post on X thanking the president for his work and urging Americans to vote against Trump.
President Biden deserves tremendous gratitude for his many decades of public service and his effective leadership from the White House during an especially consequential time for our nation. Over the past four years, President Biden has steered our country through multiple crises with a steady hand. He brought us through the pandemic, restored our global standing, and kept the economy on track, all while maintaining his commitment to expanding equality and opportunity for all.
In a career that has spanned eras of historic progress as well as periods of frightening backlash, he has been a strong advocate for women and girls. Every item on his long list of accomplishments has improved people’s lives—and no president before him has done as much to champion America’s caregivers and the vital role they play in our families, our economy, and our country.
President Biden also has my admiration for encouraging us to look forward and to understand that the stakes of this election simply could not be higher. The trajectory of the next several decades depends on what happens in the next several months.
We have seen what a Trump administration looks like, and we cannot risk another one. I encourage you to study the issues. Speak up for what you believe in. Vote in November, and make sure the people around you do, too.
French Gates had never endorsed a presidential candidate before, but she wrote in an op-ed for CNN that “the stakes for women and families couldn’t be higher.”
Richard Branson
British billionaire Richard Branson wrote a post lauding Biden’s decision, calling it a “principled decision by a smart, principled man.”
President Biden standing down is a smart, principled decision by a smart, principled man and gives the opportunity for the next generation to move America and humanity forward.
Branson wrote on Virgin Galactic’s website earlier this month urging Biden to consider stepping down, adding to the chorus of calls for the president to reconsider his bid for a second term.