Eighty-Eight Corporate Leaders Endorse Harris In New Letter, Including CEOs Of Yelp, Box
WASHINGTON — Eighty-eight current and former top executives from across corporate America have endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president in a new letter shared exclusively with CNBC.
Among the signers are several high-profile CEOs of public companies, including Aaron Levie of Box, Jeremy Stoppelman of Yelp and Michael Lynton, chairman of Snap.
Other signers appear to be issuing their first public endorsements of Harris since she became the de facto Democratic nominee in July.
They include James Murdoch, former CEO of 21st Century Fox and an heir to the Murdoch family media empire, and crypto executive Chris Larsen, co-founder of the Ripple blockchain platform.
Other notable signers are philanthropist Lynn Forester de Rothschild, private equity billionaire José E. Feliciano, Twilio co-founder Jeff Lawson, and D.C. sports magnate Ted Leonsis, owner of the NBA’s Washington Wizards, WNBA’s Mystics and the NHL’s Washington Capitals.
The three-page list also includes a slate of longtime Democratic political donors, like Kleiner Perkins’ John Doerr, Insight partners Deven Parekh, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, founder and managing partner of Wndr and former chairman of Walt Disney Studios.
Another subset of names are people who have supported Harris in particular since her political campaigns in California, like the philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, and NBA Hall of Famer and billionaire businessman Magic Johnson.
More than a dozen of the signers made their fortunes on Wall Street: Tony James, former president and COO of Blackstone and founder of Jefferson River Capital; Bruce Heyman, former managing director of private wealth at Goldman Sachs; Peter Orszag, CEO of Lazard; and Steve Westly managing director of the Westly Group and a former Tesla board member.
Still more are prominent in Silicon Valley, including the venture capitalist Ron Conway, entrepreneur Mark Cuban and former LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman.
The lion’s share of the 88 signers who endorsed Harris are former CEOs of major public companies.
They include former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, Barry Diller, chairman of IAC and former Paramount and Fox Inc. CEO, former Merck CEO Ken Frazier, Logan Green former CEO of Lyft, former GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving, former Ford CEO Alan Mulally, former Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan and Dan Schulman, former CEO of PayPal.
A strategic purposeConsidering how long the list of names runs, the endorsement letter itself is relatively short.
“The best way to support the continued strength, security, and reliability of our democracy and economy” is by electing Harris president, the writers say.
Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at a campaign rally in Savannah, Georgia, U.S., August 29, 2024.
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters
They also argue that Harris would “continue to advance fair and predictable policies that support the rule of law, stability, and a sound business environment” if she were president.
The reason for the long list and the short letter is because the letter itself was not written to convince the general public to vote for Harris.
Instead, its purpose is to serve as a well-timed political show of force for Harris, who is locked in a very tight race, with the first presidential debate just four days away.
Both Harris and Trump have spent the past week rolling out their dueling economic visions, ahead of the Sept. 10 debate, hosted by ABC.
Harris outlined proposals to support small businesses that feature a plan to increase a tax deduction for startup expenses by 10 times, up to $50,000.
She also proposed lifting the top capital gains tax rate to 28% for people making more than $1 million a year — up from the current 20% rate, but far lower than the 39.6% level that President Joe Biden has proposed.
Harris said she dialed back Biden’s top rate, in part, because her goal is to encourage more private sector investment.
Trump laid out his own competing economic agenda on Thursday in New York, where he called for the creation of a government efficiency commission designed to root out fraud.
He also pledged to cut the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15% for companies that make their products in the United States.
Trump has also earned support from a number of prominent Wall Street and private sector backers, including Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick and Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.
Read more CNBC politics coverageThe letter’s initial organization can be traced back to four top Harris supporters: Roger Altman, senior chairman of Evercore, Blair Effron, co-founder of Centerview Partners, the former American Express CEO Ken Chenault and Ursula Burns, the former CEO of Xerox.
The genesis of the project was described to CNBC by a person familiar with the process, who was granted anonymity to describe how it came about.
Altman, Effron, Chenault and Burns organized the effort, and then brought the letter to the Harris presidential campaign as a way to showcase the vice president’s support within the business community.
The full text of the letter and list of signatures is below.
We endorse Kamala Harris’s election as President of the United States.
Her election is the best way to support the continued strength, security, and reliability of our democracy and economy. With Kamala Harris in the White House, the business community can be confident that it will have a President who wants American industries to thrive. As a partner to President Biden, Vice President Harris has a strong record of advancing actions to spur business investment in the United States and ensure American businesses can compete and win in the global market. She will continue to advance fair and predictable policies that support the rule of law, stability, and a sound business environment, and she will strive to give every American the opportunity to pursue the American dream.
Roger Altman, Founder & Senior Chairman of EvercoreShellye Archambeau, former CEO of MetricStreamCarl Bass, former CEO of AutodeskTom Bernstein, President and Co-Founder of Chelsea PiersAfasaneh Beschloss, Founder & CEO of Rock CreekJeff Bewkes, former CEO of Time WarnerW. Michael Blumenthal, 64th U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and former CEO of both Bendix and UnisysRosalind “Roz” Brewer, former CEO of Sam’s Club; former CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance; former COO of StarbucksUrsula Burns, former CEO of Xerox; Chairwoman of Teneo; Founding Partner of Integrum HoldingsMaverick Carter, CEO of The SpringHill CompanyKen Chenault, Chairman & Managing Director of General Catalyst; former Chairman & CEO of American ExpressPeter Chernin, Co-Founder & Partner of TCG Tony Coles, Chairperson & former CEO of CerevelTim Collins, Founder, CEO, and Senior Managing Director of RipplewoodRon Conway, Founder & Managing Partner of SV AngelRobert Crandall, former President and Chairman of American AirlinesMark Cuban, Various entrepreneurial endeavors and a “shark” on Shark TankRichelieu Dennis, Founder and Executive Chair of Sundial Group of CompaniesBarry Diller, Chairman & Senior Executive of IAC and Senior Executive of Expedia; Former Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures and Fox, Inc.John Doerr, Chairman of Kleiner PerkinsArnold Donald, former CEO of Carnival CorporationBlair Effron, Partner & Co-Founder of Centerview PartnersJosé E. Feliciano, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Clearlake Capital GroupDavid P. Fialkow, Co-Founder & Managing Director of General CatalystAnne Finucane, former Vice Chair of Bank of AmericaLynn Forester de Rothschild, Chief Executive of E.L. RothschildKen Frazier, former Executive Chairman, President & CEO of MerckMark Gallogly, Co-Founder and Managing Principal of Three Cairns Group; Co-Founder of Centerbridge PartnersChad Gifford, Former Chairman of Bank of AmericaDavid Grain, Founder and CEO of Grain ManagementLogan Green, Chairman and former CEO of LyftDaniel J. Halpern, Co-founder and CEO of Jackmont HospitalityBruce Heyman, Former U.S. Ambassador to Canada and former Managing Director of Private Wealth at Goldman SachsMellody Hobson, Co-CEO and President of Ariel Investments; Chairman of StarbucksRoger Hochschild, former CEO and President of Discover Financial ServicesReid Hoffman, Partner at Greylock Partners and Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of LinkedIn Glenn Hutchins, Chairman of North Island or Co-Founder of Silver LakeBlake Irving, former CEO of GoDaddyTony James, former President, CEO & Executive Vice Chairman of Blackstone; Founder of Jefferson River CapitalDavid Jacobson, Senior Advisor and former Vice Chair of BMO Financial Group; Former U.S. Ambassador to CanadaEarvin “Magic” Johnson, Chairman and CEO, Magic Johnson EnterprisesBrad Karp, Chairman of Paul, WeissJeffrey Katzenberg, Founder & Managing Partner of WndrCoEllen Kullman, President and CEO of Carbon3; former Chair and CEO of DuPontTodd Lachman, Founder of Sovos BrandsChris Larsen, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of RippleJeff Lawson, former CEO of TwilioTed Leonsis, CEO of Monumental Sports & EntertainmentAaron Levie, Co-Founder & CEO of BoxEd Lewis, former Chairman and CEO of Essence Communications, co-founder Essence MagazineWilliam M. Lewis, Jr.Michael Lynton, Chairman of Snap, Inc., former CEO of Sony EntertainmentTracy V. Maitland, President and Chief Investment Officer of Advent Capital ManagementHelena Maus, CEO of Archetype and Marker CollectiveMarissa Mayer, co-founder and CEO of Sunshine Products, former CEO of Yahoo!T.J. McGill, Co-Founder of Evergreen Pacific Partners and Suzanne Sinegal McGill, Co-Founder of Rwanda Girls InitiativeDanny Meyer, Founder & Executive Chairman of Union Square Hospitality GroupDustin Moskovitz, Co-founder and CEO of AsanaAlan Mulally, former CEO of FordAnne Mulcahy, former Chairman and CEO of XeroxJames Murdoch, Founder & CEO of Lupa Systems; former CEO of 21st Century FoxLaxman Narasimhan, former CEO of StarbucksIndra Nooyi, former Chairman and CEO of PepsiCoPeter Orszag, former Director of the United States Office of Management and Budget and CEO of LazardDeven J. Parekh, Managing Director of Insight PartnersSean Parker, Founder of Napster; Founder and Chairman of Parker Institute for Cancer ImmunotherapyCharles Phillips, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Recognize; former President of Oracle and former CEO of Infor; Laurene Powell Jobs, Founder and President of Emerson CollectivePenny Pritzker, 38th U.S. Secretary of Commerce; founder and Chairman of PSP Partners Vasant Prabhu, former CFO and Vice-Chair of VisaSpencer Rascoff, Founder and CEO of 75 & Sunny Ventures; Co-Founder and former CEO of ZillowPunit RenjenRachel Romer, Founder of Guild EducationRobert Rubin, former U.S. Treasury Secretary; Senior Counselor at Centerview PartnersKevin P. Ryan, Co-founder, MongoDB, Business Insider, GILT Groupe, Zola, Pearl Health, Affect Therapeutics, and Transcend TherapeuticsFaiza J. SaeedDan Schulman, former President & CEO of PayPalJim Sinegal, Co-Founder and Former CEO of CostcoDan Springer, former CEO of DocusignTom Steyer, Founder and former Co-Senior-Managing-Partner of Farallon CapitalJeremy Stoppelman, CEO of YelpScott Stuart, Founding & Managing Partner of Sageview CapitalLarry Summers, 71st United States Secretary of the Treasury and President Emeritus of Harvard UniversityHamdi Ulukaya, Founder & CEO of ChobaniDaniel Weiss, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Angeleno GroupSteve Westly, Founder and Managing Partner of The Westly GroupRon Williams, former CEO of AetnaRobert Wolf, former CEO of UBS AmericasDon’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO