Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has picked former Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan to serve as co-chair of his transition team — sparking concerns among New York City tech executives.
Khan — a 36-year-old Democrat who bought major cases against Meta and Amazon while running the FTC from 2021 to 2025 — surprised some onlookers on Wednesday as she appeared alongside Mamdani at his first post-election press conference.
“I think what we saw last night was New Yorkers not just electing a new mayor, but clearly rejecting a politics where outsize corporate power and money too often end up dictating our politics, and a clear mandate for change,” Khan said at the event, drawing cheers from the crowd.
When asked if she’s considering a full-time role within the Mamdani administration, a source close to Khan said she’s focused on her responsibilities with the transition team.
“Lina’s been announced as a co-chair of the mayor-elect’s transition team, where she will advise on economic policy and personnel,” said Doug Farrar, a spokesman for Khan.
Khan’s involvement immediately raised alarms with Big Tech and Wall Street honchos — many of whom have long bristled at her aggressive enforcement tactics, tough merger reviews and anti-monopoly crackdowns while she headed the FTC.
Google, Meta and Amazon all have a sizable presence in New York, and some of those large firms could interpret Mamdani’s working with Khan as a “shot across the bow,” according to Eric Soufer, head of the advanced tech practice at Tusk Strategies.
“I think a lot of people are going to have some sleepless nights early on before they have some conversations or at least hear something publicly from Lina Khan and the rest of the transition team about what their plans are,” Soufer said.
Aside from Khan, the transition team’s co-chairs include former deputy mayor Maria Torres-Springer, nonprofit executive Grace Bonilla and city budget expert Melanie Hartzog.
During her time at the FTC, Khan waged an unsuccessful fight to stop Microsoft’s acquisition of video game giant Activision-Blizzard; blocked an attempted merger between grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons and enacted a ban on non-compete agreements when workers switch jobs, which was later reversed in court.
Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman and IAC Inc. chairman Barry Diller were among those to publicly criticize Khan’s tenure at the FTC.
At the same time, Khan has received fierce support from so-called “Little Tech” startups who were largely supportive of her efforts to break up dominant rivals.
Khan’s hard-charging approach to antitrust enforcement even drew support from so-called “Khanservatives” on the right, including Vice President JD Vance and Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri.
“I guess I look at Lina Khan as one of the few people in the Biden administration who I think is doing a pretty good job,” Vance said at an antitrust conference sponsored by Silicon Valley startup incubator Y Combinator last year.
