Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia behind $1M trust donation to Greg Abbott

Joe Gebbia, an Austin billionaire, Airbnb co-founder and close friend of Elon Musk, is behind a mysterious $1 million donation to Gov. Greg Abbott, the Texas Republican’s campaign confirmed Wednesday.

The governor’s campaign reported the gift from Peachtree Trust, one of four million-dollar donations Abbott received in June, in a new filing. But the campaign did not include any information on who is involved in the trust – which experts said could be a violation of campaign finance rules.

The trust did not appear to be publicly registered in Texas, and the governor’s campaign finance report only said that it was based in West Lake Hills. The donation appears to be the trust’s first-ever to a Texas official.

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In response to questions from Hearst Newspapers, the campaign said the gift was from Gebbia and that it was filing an updated campaign finance report to disclose his identity.

It is unclear why Gebbia donated under the trust. Gebbia has given to Abbott under his own name before, including giving $1 million to the governor last year.

Gebbia sits on Tesla’s board of directors. He is also involved in the Department of Government Efficiency, the cost-cutting effort Musk launched for the Trump administration before his public falling out with President Donald Trump in June. Musk lives in Austin and is close to Abbott.

Attempts to reach Gebbia through Airbnb and Tesla went unanswered.

The donation was part of a more than $20 million haul the governor reported raising in just an eight-day period in June following a legislative session that saw the Texas Republican sign long-sought private school vouchers into law and veto a ban on hemp-derived THC products.

Abbott also signed into law a slate of fresh corporate protections, including provisions making it harder for shareholders to file lawsuits against publicly traded companies, like the one in Delaware that blocked a massive pay package for Musk at Tesla, spurring him to move his companies to Texas.

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It is not unusual for political donations to be made under trusts, but they typically carry the name of the donor. Musk, for instance, gives political donations in Texas under the Elon Musk Revocable Trust.

The Texas Ethics Commission issued an opinion last year that said campaign finance restrictions and reporting rules apply to the people comprising the trust. That means it has to be treated as a political action committee if multiple people are involved, and is required to report where it gets its money and how it spends it. If it’s a single person, they should be identified.

“If it’s just one person dumping money into it, then you’re supposed to report it as the person,” said Andrew Cates, an expert in Texas campaign finance and ethics laws. “It’s either you report it as the person, not the trust, or you report it as a PAC — and in that case, they have to file as a PAC and go on the grid. There would have to be somebody’s name somewhere. And if not, then there should be a PAC formed.”

Gebbia was a longtime Democratic donor, giving thousands to both Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden’s presidential campaigns. But in January, he wrote on the social media site X that he voted for Trump.

“I did my own research,” Gebbia wrote. “And I found something that shocked me. He is not a fascist determined to destroy democracy. He deeply cares about our nation.”

Gebbia is also an investor in the San Antonio Spurs. He accompanied Abbott to watch the Austin Spurs, a Spurs-owned team that plays in the NBA’s developmental league, in March.