At a Christmas party this month for his All-In podcast, David Sacks took to the stage sporting a Russian-style fur hat and was ceremoniously gifted a Vladimir Putin calendar and a box of caviar.
The Silicon Valley investor was riffing on his appointment last week as Donald Trump’s artificial intelligence and crypto “tsar”, while poking fun at critics who say his foreign policy attitudes align with those of the Russian leader.
The performance was classic Sacks, according to a number of people who know him: controversial, theatrical — and offensive to those who take him literally but irreverent and witty to those who do not.
Born in South Africa in 1972, Sacks made his name as part of the “PayPal mafia”, the group of founders…
