Billionaire investor Jeff Yass, known for his high-stakes gambling ventures, is backing Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

In an unexpected turn of events, Jeff Yass, a co-founder of Wall Street trading firm Susquehanna and a registered Libertarian, has emerged as one of the biggest political donors for the 2024 US presidential elections. Despite his past as a "Never Trumper", Yass's contributions have largely been funneled into a super PAC supporting Donald Trump's campaign.

Born and raised middle-class in Queens, New York, Yass displayed a preternatural talent for odds-making during weekends at the horse track. This early affinity for gambling led him to form a poker-playing clique and gambling syndicate in the 1970s while studying maths and economics at SUNY Binghamton.

Yass's gambling prowess extended to the world of options trading. In 1987, after buying a seat on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, he and his crew formed an options trading firm dubbed Susquehanna, which still operates out of an office in Philadelphia. The traders at Susquehanna think about markets "through the lens of poker and probabilities" and eschew outside influences to draw on bespoke research and algorithms.

One of Yass's most successful investments is his 15% stake in ByteDance, the Chinese company behind the popular video app TikTok. This investment, considered one of the best plays of the decade by Vanity Fair, is now worth roughly $40 billion and could be worth up to $150 billion if ByteDance goes public. However, the golden run with ByteDance is in danger due to the potential sale of TikTok, as President Biden signed a law in April that forces ByteDance to sell TikTok to a US company or face a complete ban on national security grounds.

Susquehanna is a huge player in the options trading market, trading various assets including silver, Swiss francs, crude oil, bitcoin, and sugar. The investment in ByteDance is not the only significant asset in Yass's portfolio. Despite differences, Yass and Trump are currently betting on the same outcome in the 2024 US presidential elections, with Yass making his largest political donation for the year 2024 on August 22, 2024.

Yass's network of influence "reaches even further than his harshest critics realise", and his contributions could play a significant role in shaping the 2024 US presidential elections. If Trump is re-elected, TikTok will get a stay of execution, but the outcome remains uncertain.

As the 2024 US presidential elections approach, the spotlight is on Jeff Yass and his significant investments. Whether his bet on Trump will pay off remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: Yass's influence in the world of politics and finance continues to grow.

Billionaire investor Jeff Yass, known for his high-stakes gambling ventures, is backing Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.