Electric air taxi firm Joby Aviation eyes White House landing, but has deep ties to anti-Trump billionaire Reid Hoffman
Joby Aviation has scored federal approvals and contracts and hopes to begin taking passengers by early 2026 after scooping up hundreds of millions of dollars in investments from companies including Uber, Toyota and Delta.
The sleek, four-passenger flying taxis, also known as eVTOLs, can both take off and land vertically and top out at speeds of 200 miles per hour.
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6 An electric air taxi company — with dreams of landing one of its vehicles on the White House lawn later this year — is in the final sprint for certifications to begin flying its craft commercially, but is facing some political headwinds.
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Last fall, the Santa Cruz, Calif.-based aerospace company even rolled out a prototype to display in Grand Central Station, claiming that it could have New Yorkers bypass a congested cab or subway ride to JFK Airport from lower Manhattan in fewer than seven minutes.
But some Republicans and people close to the Trump administration have said Joby's financial ties to billionaire Reid Hoffman — who threw his weight behind Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 election campaign after backing lawsuits against Trump — are a problem for the firm.
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One source said Joby 'attempting to publicly and privately lobby the White House' was a non-starter given its financial backing by a 'Trump-hater who funded the E. Jean Carroll weaponization lawsuit against President Trump.'
6 Some Republicans and sources close to the president's administration have said its financial ties to Hoffman, who threw his weight behind Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 election after backing lawsuits against Trump.
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Another person close to the president said Joby's 'ties to Reid Hoffman, someone who funded political prosecutions of Donald Trump' were 'concerning.'
And a Senate Republican aide also claimed that some lawmakers on Capitol Hill were 'skeptical of taking meetings' with Joby, 'especially given Hoffman's attacks on Trump and [Elon] Musk.'
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'The anonymous claims are ill-informed and inaccurate,' a Joby spokesperson told The Post Friday. 'Joby is a proudly American company and global leader, employing over 2000 engineers and other experts, across 40 different US states, and our pioneering aircraft are designed, built and assembled in America.
'From being the first company to deliver an air taxi to the Department of Defense to being the first air taxi to fly a demonstration flight in New York City, the progress we've made and the support we've received reflects the work of our incredible engineers, not the politics of any individuals.
6 The LinkedIn cofounder remains one of the larger stakeholders in Joby with more than 30 million shares, per its latest quarterly SEC filings.
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'We have been actively engaged with the Administration, including the White House, DOT and legislators on certification—as is appropriate for any company pursuing a first-of-its-kind FAA approval. We've received strong, bipartisan support across the board. We've also been consistent advocates for many of the priorities that DOT and FAA are championing, including air traffic control modernization and ensuring that eVTOL technology is commercialized here in the US.'
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Joby went public nearly four years ago as part of a SPAC deal with Hoffman's blank-check company Reinvent Technology Partners, which was also headed up by Zynga founder Mark Pincus.
'The Jetsons now become real,' Hoffman crowed to Bloomberg Technology in an August 2021 interview.
'It's Uber meets Tesla in the air — and that can transform space, people's commutes, stop gridlock and have that not have the climate impact.'
The Reinvent deal helped seed Joby with more than $1 billion as it began pursuing Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certifications, CNBC reported.
6
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Hoffman had served on Joby's board from the 2020 merger until 2024, but stepped down last year.
The LinkedIn cofounder remains a large stakeholder in the company with more than 30 million shares, per its latest quarterly SEC filings last month.
During the 2024 election, Hoffman donated more than $7 million to a pro-Harris super PAC after having bankrolled legal funding for Carroll's sex abuse civil suit against Trump through his nonprofit American Future Republic.
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6 'If our thesis on a company like Joby is accurate you're going to have the first, new transportation modality in 50-plus years — and it's going to happen in this term,' said investor Michael Thompson on the 'Citizen Podcast' last month.
Joby Aviation
He was replaced on the board last year by Michael Thompson, a Miami Beach-based investor who also helped establish Reinvent Technology Partners.
Thompson donated $200,000 to Musk's America PAC to help re-elect Trump in June 2024, Federal Election Commission filings show, and has been bullish about Joby's opportunities in Trump's second term.
'If our thesis on a company like Joby is accurate, you're going to have the first new transportation modality in 50-plus years — and it's going to happen in this term,' Thompson predicted on the 'Citizen Podcast' last month.
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6 Other leading eVTOL makers include Beta Technologies and Archer Aviation.
Joby Aviation
Thompson recounted how the 'moment for many Americans that air travel became tangible' was when President William Howard Taft watched a member of the Wright Brothers flight school take off from the South Lawn in 1911.
'We're hoping to replicate that this year and fly the Joby off of the White House lawn,' he said.
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Other leading eVTOL makers include Beta Technologies and Archer Aviation.
The White House, FAA and Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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