Who Is David Sacks? A Fitting Bridge Between DeSantis and Musk

The discussion on Twitter Spaces between Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, will be moderated by David Sacks, a fitting bridge between them.

A Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor, Mr. Sacks is a close friend of Mr. Musk, having worked with him as an executive in the early days of PayPal, the digital payments company that was the source of Mr. Musk’s early wealth.

Mr. Sacks was among the investors who provided funding for Mr. Musk’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter last year, and was a trusted confidant during the ownership transition, though he denied having an “official role.”

He is also a Republican donor who gave $50,000 to Mr. DeSantis’s state political committee ahead of his re-election, campaign finance records show. He has praised the governor on several occasions, including for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic in Florida.

“He was the first governor to stop these insane lockdowns,” Mr. Sacks said on Bloomberg TV in 2021. “I respect that.”

Mr. Sacks has experience in audio broadcasting as a co-host of the popular “All-In” podcast, which features an assemblage of Silicon Valley figures discussing technology, politics and miscellanea.

He founded Yammer, a communication tool that was sold to Microsoft in 2012 for $1.2 billion. His current firm, Craft Ventures, includes investments in Uber, Slack, Quora and Airbnb.