Inside the fundraiser Silicon Valley's elite billionaire families hosted for Pete Buttigieg, where guests paid $2,800 to dine under a chandelier covered in 1,500 Swarovski crystals
- Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and the family members of fellow Silicon Valley billionaires Sergey Brin, Sheryl Sandberg, and Eric Schmidt hosted a glitzy fundraiser for South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg's presidential campaign in Napa Valley on Monday, Recode's Teddy Schleifer reported.
- Photos of the event show Buttigieg speaking with guests under a chandelier that contains 1,500 Swarovski crystals.
- Buttigieg already received donations from 39 billionaires in the first 11 months of 2019.
- Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have turned taking campaign donations from the ultra-wealthy into a taboo in the Democratic presidential primary.
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Pete Buttigieg spent his Monday morning at a glitzy Napa Valley brunch with the family members of Silicon Valley billionaires.
The event's cohosts included Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, Google cofounder Sergey Brin's wife Nicole Shanahan, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt's wife Wendy Schmidt, and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's sister Michelle Sandberg, a campaign document obtained by Recode's Teddy Schleifer shows. These hosts alone have a combined net worth of $80 billion, according to Recode.
The group met at Napa Valley's Hall Rutherford winery, Brian Slodysko of the Associated Press previously reported. Guests dined at a table made of onyx, under a chandelier that contains 1,500 Swarovski crystals, photos of the event shared by Schleifer show. Guests had to make a $2,800 donation to Buttigieg's campaign in order to attend, according to Recode.
A representative of Buttigieg's campaign did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment on the fundraiser's hosts or the photos.
Schleifer shared photos of the event on Twitter. The photos were originally shared on Instagram, but appear to have since been removed.
Buttigieg isn't the only Democratic contender courting billionaires
California senator Kamala Harris has received donations from 46 billionaires since January 1, including oil heirs Gordon and Ann Getty, filmmaker George Lucas, investor Dean Metropoulos, and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs before dropping out of the race on December 3, Business Insider previously reported.
New Jersey senator Cory Booker is neck and neck with Harris when it comes to billionaire support, with donations from 45 billionaires, according to a November report from Forbes. Booker's ultra-wealthy donors include hedge-fund manager William Ackman, producer Andres Santo Domingo, Google chairman (and Booker's former business partner) Eric Schmidt, and filmmaker Steven Spielberg, Forbes reported.
Former Vice President Joe Biden is third-most popular when it comes to financial backing from billionaires: He has accepted donations from 44 billionaires. Buttigieg has the support of 39, according to Forbes.
Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have turned taking campaign donations from the ultra-wealthy into a taboo in the Democratic presidential primary. Sanders vowed not to accept funds from any billionaires, and even returned a $470 donation from a billionaire's wife in November, Forbes reported.
