Moving to DC is to have meetings all day long with political party members, wine and dine with government lobbyists off the record, back scratching, back room deals off the record likely the most important aspect, etc...
It makes more sense for a defense contractor like Boeing to have a substantial office (if not their HQ) in DC given the Pentagon and all the program offices in the area. Especially since lobbying is the only way they can get business, not by the quality of their work. For non defense/intelligence contractors it makes much less sense to be in that area other than a small office at most.
It mirrors the absolutist monarchy of Louis 14, where courtiers needed to be available for his lavish feasts (and couldn't be elsewhere to plot on their own)
Right, I thought we couldn't get any work done unless we are in the office? How is Elon Musk able to run 4 companies and the Department of Government Efficiency?
I was told that being a CEO was much harder and longer hours than a normal employee and that justifies their salary. But if CEOs work 80 hours a week at their company like I was told it would be physically impossible for a CEO to run multiple companies and a government office at the same time?
Don’t forget he’s also a top player in Path of Exile 2 hardcore league - a feat that requires playing around the clock. He’s so good at gaming that he was playing it while at the inauguration without needing a computer.
This. If the timing were different, I'd agree with the "slow day" sentiment.
But, given we're not two weeks out of inauguration, it's a signal that at least some oligarchs are convinced that physical proximity to Trump will help them achieve their Machiavellian ends. It will be interesting to see who else follows along. Bezos has had a place here for a while.
It's a good time to be a realtor who specializes in Kalorama, that's for sure.
I haven't followed this closely throughout history but I bet we're going to see cycles of people with power cycling in and out of the area based on who is in office and what they need to influence the government on.
He probably does. Or at least I assume a furnished apartment is always available. Buying "property" (and I assume in Zuckerberg terms, that means a large home or a piece of land) implies a more substantial investment and possibly a commitment to spend a much larger percentage of his time in DC.
In DC you rent an apartment to spend time at the halls of power. You need someplace to sleep and keep your stuff. Not just lobbyists, but also senators and representatives do this.
You buy a home to entertain powerful guests.
The Conways famously purchased an 8 million dollar mansion during the Trump administration, IIRC. This stuff goes on all the time. If you pay attention to these stories, you can start to understand how power really works in the US.
The risk of a hidden camera or microphone in an Airbnb/hotel would be reason enough to buy your own place, if you were a public company CEO with this much power.
I feel like this is a damning statement this about the current political environment. Someone like Zuck thinks it is a useful to his company if he spends a significant amount of time away from it in DC dealing with political things. I'd imagine most people would agree that CEOs should be focused on the act of running their businesses rather than managing political situations.
It's quite a bad omen that the last sentence even needs to be said: "... Trump last week denied that Musk would be getting an office in the White House itself."
It's unlikely he'd buy a property here for normal "running the corporate empire" stuff - hotels or short-term leases (not Airbnb, but month long lease of luxury properties) are adequate for short trips like that.
More likely, he's looking for a place where he serve as power broker, king maker, and socialize with other oligarchs, heads of state, etc.
Kalorama puts him on equal footing with Bezos. Half the Trump clan already has homes there. Obama is there. And a bunch of other millionaires and billionaires most of us have never heard of.
It seems unclear if he's looking at build a home, or if he is looking to buy up some of the government office building the Trump administration wants to put up for sale.
"Elon Musk, who is leading the Department of Government Efficiency and has been working out of SpaceX’s Washington office, has reportedly also been seeking to invest in a DC property, prompting a backlash from locals in the city’s Adams Morgan neighbourhood."
Adams-Morgan isn't really a Musk-style neighborhood. Kalorama, on the other side of Connecticut Ave. NW might be.
There is a hotel in Adams Morgan called the LINE that was up for auction and he allegedly wanted it, but did not win the auction. He could still buy it from the auction winner though. The story is that he wants to turn it into some kind of social club.
One is pale and wears a hoodie and loves DEI. The one described here is tan and wears a gold chain and is really mad that some lady executive forced him to do DEI in the past.
Yes, this is a joke - implying that his stance on DEI is self-serving and simply changes with the political climate. The physical appearance change is more superficial, but could also be seen as a change in PR strategy.
The joke above was that in a phrase like "Meta's Mark Zuckerberg ...", the first word is unnecessary because he's one of the most famous people in Tech, if not the country in general.
I guess my problem is that I had no idea that he changed his visual appearance so these references just confused me. I'm not really following his personal life.
