Four years ago, one of Vice President Kamala Harris’ biggest donors, LinkedIn co-founder and billionaire Reid Hoffman, replaced the game’s “prison” space with a Monopoly board so he could earn a large sum of money. Celebrated the IPO of Airbnb, a company in which he had invested. “Government Regulation”
Since Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee, a number of billionaire tech investors have come out to support her campaign. While they often tout Harris as a business-friendly politician, they have been vocal about their distaste for Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan’s antitrust policies. Mr. Hoffman is one of the group’s most influential donors. He has donated tens of millions of dollars to support the Biden and Harris campaigns and is organizing other wealthy tech investors to do the same.
When Airbnb went public in December 2020, the company was valued at more than $47 billion. Hoffman sent at least several other investors a Monopoly-like board game called Airbnopoly, according to images of the game obtained by WIRED. Airbnb’s top investor confirmed that he was one of several people to receive the game from Hoffman and his venture firm, Greylock Partners.
The box is labeled “The Works of Reid Hoffman and Greylock” and contains all the elements typically included in classic board games, including cards, dice, and game pieces, all of which are perfect for traveling. is the theme. Instead of top hats and thimbles, players can use things like airplane seats, golf clubs, and flip-flops to control the board. Spaces on the board are also customized to include airports instead of railroads and Airbnb locations instead of Atlantic City roads. One striking change is that instead of the “Go to Jail” space, the board now directs players to return to the “Government Regulation” corner space. If players evade government regulations, they will progress down a path titled “Progress.”
Some spaces on the board require players to pay government-issued fines, taxes, or trust and safety fees. One of the cards in the game says, “Recent developments in American politics have made me interested in living in Canada.”
Airbnbopoly is clearly more of a novelty gift than a screed against big government. “Reed is a huge board game fan and has been playing games like Settlers of Catan for years, so he created a custom board game called Settlers of Silicon Valley and gave it to many friends. “I did,” says podcaster Aria Finger. co-host and Hoffman’s chief of staff told WIRED. “And for Airbnb, he thought a custom game would be a nice and unique gesture. He also went for it because the Monopoly board is easily available for a variety of Airbnb rentals.”
Still, the revelation came as Mr. Hoffman and his Silicon Valley contemporaries are calling for Mr. Khan’s removal under a possible Harris administration.
Since Mr. Khan was confirmed as chairman in 2021, the FTC has pursued tech giants including Amazon, Google, and Meta for potentially anticompetitive conduct. Many of these lawsuits have failed, while others are ongoing. Khan’s biggest victory came in August when a judge found that Google maintained an illegal monopoly in the online search market.
In 2016, Mr. Hoffman sold LinkedIn to Microsoft and became a director of the company. Microsoft is reportedly currently under investigation by the FTC as part of an investigation into its cooperation and investments in artificial intelligence. A spokeswoman for Mr. Hoffman did not respond to a request for comment.
