Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya is getting roasted on X for saying possessions are “worthless” and a “sign of insecurity,” while wearing, critics say, a €2,400 ($2,750) sweatshirt by Italian luxury brand Loro Piana.
In a video posted on his YouTube channel on Friday, Palihapitiya said possessions are “a sign of insecurity, and they’re a sign of a rampant ego, and they’re a sign of an unsettled mind.”
“Chamath telling you this while wearing a $2400 Loro Piana Breia sweatshirt is pure comedy,” one user on X wrote in a post, which received over 5,000 likes.
Palihapitiya said on X on Sunday that the sweater he wore in Friday’s YouTube video was not Loro Piana. The luxury brand did not respond to requests for confirmation. Business Insider was not able to reach Palihapitiya for comment.
The new status is no symbol
Palihapitiya has long been perceived as a luxury aficionado — he has been pictured wearing fine watches, and has previously spoken on his “All-In” podcast about taking David Sacks to his tailor and to a Loro Piana store.
In Friday’s YouTube video, Palihapitiya said he once spent money on luxury possessions but later came to view them as a distraction from what he truly cared about: building and creating things.
He said that some status symbols, like owning a private jet, felt like a box-checking exercise.
“I used to think watches were really beautiful, mechanical, amazing things. I still do. And so I bought one, then I bought another one, then I bought another one,” Palihapitiya said.
He then said he had to get them fixed because he wouldn’t wear them all the time, and the insurance costs were spiraling.
“I thought to myself, what is this? This is so stupid. I can just tell the time with my iPhone,” he added.
The backlash toward Palihapitiya’s comments comes as the AI boom mints a new generation of founders and investors, bringing with it a heightened interest in status symbols for the tech elite.
His declaration that possessions are “worthless” also comes as the luxury market slows after a post-pandemic boom.
“All the trappings of success used to be reserved for the most successful people. Now, when you look, all the trappings of success are an Instagram with a bunch of mids,” he said, using internet slang for mediocre people.
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