Mamdani Targets ‘Greedy Algorithm’ of Corporations in a New Brand of Politics

Zohran Mamdani used a billionaire’s words against him this week when he recalled recent remarks by DoorDash Chief Executive Tony Xu about the need for entrepreneurs to act like a “greedy algorithm.”

The term is a reference in computer science to making optimal choices for the moment, without thought to the consequences, the New York mayor explained at a press conference at City Hall. DoorDash’s delivery workers had been the victims of such a mindset, he claimed.

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Kevin T. Dugan is a reporter at The Wall Street Journal covering the culture of business and Wall Street. Previously, he was a senior writer at New York magazine covering money and power, and he has worked for Bloomberg, the Information, and the New York Post. He is the 2022 winner of the New York Press Club award for metro feature writing, a two-time Sabew award winner, and a finalist of the Deadline Club award for local reporting. His coverage of Sam Bankman-Fried and the collapse of FTX is currently being adapted into a show on Netflix.

Joshua Chaffin is senior special writer for The Wall Street Journal’s National Affairs team in New York. Joshua’s reporting covers a wide range of domestic issues and figures shaping business, politics and society. He joined the Journal after more than two decades at the Financial Times, where as a foreign correspondent in the U.K. and Brussels he covered the Eurozone crisis, the rise of populism and Brexit, among other topics. He also wrote extensively on New York City developers and U.S. politics.