Biden’s Wall Street Donors Are Increasingly ‘Concerned’

Major backers in finance spent the weekend discussing whether to stick with the president, or to call on him to withdraw.

By Andrew Ross Sorkin, Ravi Mattu, Bernhard Warner, Sarah Kessler, Michael J. de la Merced, Lauren Hirsch, Ephrat Livni, Vivienne Walt and Benjamin Mullin

July 8, 2024, 7:30 a.m. ET, New York Times

Wall Street’s game theory

As more leading Democrats say privately that President Biden should withdraw from the presidential race, some of the party’s most prominent backers on Wall Street spent the holiday weekend debating what to do next.

The group — including Larry Fink of BlackRock; Robert Rubin, the former Treasury secretary; Jon Gray of Blackstone; Peter Orszag of Lazard; Blair Effron of Centerview Partners; and Robert Wolf, a former UBS executive close to Barack Obama — talked to friends, colleagues and in some cases each other about whether to stick with Biden, people with knowledge of the discussions told DealBook.

If they favor calling for him to step back, they discussed what their next moves should be.

Wall Street is taking a different approach than Hollywood. A number of media moguls have publicly called on Biden to step aside, including Reed Hastings of Netflix; Barry Diller of IAC; the director Rob Reiner; and the media heir Abigail Disney. (Many are also reportedly irate at Jeffrey Katzenberg, Biden’s campaign co-chair.)

But the finance business is built around the idea of discretion. And many donors want to maintain their influence within the Democratic Party.

What Wall Street is saying: One C.E.O. suggested to DealBook that there was an “inevitability” to Biden stepping aside, describing it as a matter of timing and positioning. Several executives described themselves as “concerned.”

The deal makers are gaming out various scenarios.  Some donors have discussed “elegant” ways for Biden to step aside to preserve his reputation.

Others focused more on how such a move might affect the Democratic Party and, ultimately, the race.

There are some timing concerns:

Some executives suggested to DealBook that it would be a mistake for Biden to quit without first becoming the nominee, arguing that doing so would rob him of the power to anoint his replacement. If an open convention led to intraparty strife that helped Donald Trump win, Biden could shoulder the blame.

It would also be tricky for the president to step aside before the NATO summit in Washington this week, some donors suggested.

Others believe that dropping out sooner is better. Biden withdrawing now would leave more time for a sort of mini-primary, which could bestow more legitimacy to whoever becomes the nominee. It could also energize the party and draw oxygen away from Trump, with the Republican National Convention set to start next week.

Biden and his allies have resisted pressure to step aside so far. One reason: Polls indicate that his support in swing states hasn’t shifted since the debate. And even if Biden refuses to budge, there appears to be little chance that some top finance donors would shut their wallets, given their deep opposition to Trump.

And The Times’s Theodore Schleifer reports that the Biden campaign will hold a call today with fund-raisers. One of the co-hosts is Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland, who has been floated as a potential replacement candidate.