Why the tech industry is cozying up to Trump the second time around
When Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on Monday, some of the biggest names in the tech industry will be cheering on the commander in chief as he returns to the Oval Office.
Amazon (AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos and Meta (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg will attend the event, according to NBC News. Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook, who has historically had a good relationship with Trump, will also be at the inauguration, the New York Times reported. They’ll be joined by Trump booster and Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk. Even TikTok CEO Shou Chew, who is hoping Trump will save the social media platform from being effectively shut down in the US, will be on hand, according to the Wall Street Journal.
But these executives aren't just taking seats at the inauguration, with many tech leaders among the biggest backers of the president-elect since his win in November.
Cook also contributed to Trump’s inauguration, according to Axios, as did Amazon and Meta, with CNBC reporting on contributions from Google (GOOG, GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT).
None of this would be particularly out of the ordinary during most inaugural funding announcements.
After all, tech companies and executives also donated to Biden’s inaugural committee.
But Trump has publicly sparred with a number of tech leaders in the past, including Bezos and Zuckerberg, even going as far as threatening to jail the latter.
"It speaks to two things," Deepwater Asset Management managing partner Gene Munster told Yahoo Finance.
"No. 1 is that tech companies have understood over the past five years that Washington is a bigger X factor in their future, and so there's just a natural willingness to work more closely with the administration.
“The second is Trump values loyalty, and one way that people kind of express loyalty to him is to give money. And so, for him to take you seriously, you have to get to pay to play.”
Bezos and Zuckerberg may have the most to gain by turning around their relationships with Trump. Bezos had a tumultuous relationship with the president-elect during his first term due to the fact that the Amazon chairman also owns the Washington Post.
Trump regularly sparred with Bezos online, tying the Post’s coverage of him to Bezos himself.
In the lead-up to the election, Bezos made a move to prevent the Post’s editorial board from backing Vice President Kamala Harris for president.
In defending the decision, Bezos said endorsements create a perception of bias. (Though the paper said at the time it would continue to endorse candidates in local races.)