Portraits of Power

Patrick Collison Dreams of an Abundance-Verse

The Stripe billionaire has helped spread a political philosophy that envisions enormous economic growth propelled by technology and regulatory reform. Can it go mainstream?

The Tech Right Gets Its Own Phyllis Schlafly

Katherine Boyle, an influential venture capitalist who is a friend of the vice president, thinks the country’s path forward involves cultural conservatism and more weapons production. New York Times

Government Deals and a Palace Dinner: Scale AI’s Billionaire CEO Eyes Grander Stage In Politics

Alexandr Wang has positioned the valuable startup to become a key partner for the Trump administration.

The Far-Right Guru Who Has Befriended Silicon Valley’s Extreme Factions

Curtis Yarvin has found a place among the most right wing in tech.

How the Media Missed the Rise of the New Tech Right

Too many outlets dismissed the political shift as too weird and too inconsequential until it became impossible to ignore.

Inside the DOGE Recruitment Drive

The guerrilla, word-of-mouth campaign to recruit young tech talent involves NDAs, the prospect of 16-hour days and the chance to get close to Elon Musk.

Secretive Billionaire Thomas Tull’s Never-Ending Transformation

Thomas Tull, 53, has gone from laundromat owner, to Hollywood financier, to rising GOP kingmaker and weapons investor, just as global political tensions have seldom seemed higher.

The Ben Horowitz Paradox

A swirl of contrasts surrounds the famed investor—and not just when it comes to his flip-flop from Donald Trump to Kamala Harris.

Is OpenAI's Sam Altman Building a Tech Dream or a Sci-Fi Nightmare?

He's played chess with Peter Thiel, sparred with Elon Musk and once, supposedly, stopped a plane crash: Inside Sam Altman's world, where truth is stranger than fiction

The Power and The Powder: Inside Reed Hastings’ Life After Netflix

A year after the billionaire exited Hollywood, he is finally ready for a closeup on his next acts: one as a world-changing philanthropist, another as the tamer of an untameable mountain.

Behind the Marriage of Microsoft and Mustafa Suleyman, a Bid for Redemption

By hiring Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft gets a disruptive leader to push it past fierce rivals in consumer artificial intelligence. For Suleyman, the role could make him one of the most important people in tech—and place his fiery exit from Google far behind him.

A New Novel By ‘Silicon Valley’s Favorite Fixer’ Is Coming for Everybody

In his debut novel, venture capitalist and political strategist Bradley Tusk is not naming names—but you can probably make some educated guesses.

Profile of Rolling Stone Magazine Owner Jay Penske

He has movie-star good looks, a former Victoria's Secret model wife, and a billionaire father. Here's how Jay Penske transformed from playboy to pragmatic media mogul.

Signal Chief Meredith Whittaker Could Use Some Backup in the Fight for Encryption

The president of the Signal Foundation worries that without some bigger names backing it, privacy will become a thing of the past.

Elon Musk Unmasked

I spoke with Paris Marx for his four-part series about Elon Musk.