The billionaire mogul Bill Ackman has suddenly become a big fan of Zohran Mamdani, the newly elected mayor of New York City. In fact, he's offered to help him out - if only for Mamdani to call and say thank you.
Ackman was once an outspoken critic of Mamdani, even going so far as to fund a super PAC with a multi-million dollar budget to take down the candidate. But after Mamdani won in a landslide election, Ackman decided that he'd rather just send over a check and pretend like everything is fine.
The move has been described by some as 'gimp-like', but Ackman seems to be taking his newfound friendship with Mamdani very seriously. After all, when you've spent tens of millions trying to take down someone, it's nice to have them come crawling back into your arms.
Other high-rollers are also jumping on the bandwagon, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and crypto billionaire Mike Novogratz. It seems that even the rich and powerful can't resist a good underdog story - especially when it involves a Muslim mayor who's managed to defeat them at their own game.
Of course, not everyone is happy with Mamdani's newfound friendships with these billionaires. Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb, has yet to comment on the news, while Bloomberg has remained eerily quiet.
As for how this will all play out in terms of governance and big business response, only time will tell. But one thing's for sure - it's a giddy feeling to see these titans of industry sweating and apologizing for their past behavior. And who knows? Maybe Mamdani will actually manage to leave them on read for good. Stranger things have happened.
Ackman was once an outspoken critic of Mamdani, even going so far as to fund a super PAC with a multi-million dollar budget to take down the candidate. But after Mamdani won in a landslide election, Ackman decided that he'd rather just send over a check and pretend like everything is fine.
The move has been described by some as 'gimp-like', but Ackman seems to be taking his newfound friendship with Mamdani very seriously. After all, when you've spent tens of millions trying to take down someone, it's nice to have them come crawling back into your arms.
Other high-rollers are also jumping on the bandwagon, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and crypto billionaire Mike Novogratz. It seems that even the rich and powerful can't resist a good underdog story - especially when it involves a Muslim mayor who's managed to defeat them at their own game.
Of course, not everyone is happy with Mamdani's newfound friendships with these billionaires. Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb, has yet to comment on the news, while Bloomberg has remained eerily quiet.
As for how this will all play out in terms of governance and big business response, only time will tell. But one thing's for sure - it's a giddy feeling to see these titans of industry sweating and apologizing for their past behavior. And who knows? Maybe Mamdani will actually manage to leave them on read for good. Stranger things have happened.