Washington – Tech leaders and companies are pouring big bucks into President-elect Donald Trump's inaugural fundraiser as they prepare for the next four years of the Trump White House.
Amazon, run by billionaire Jeff Bezos, intends to donate $1 million to the president-elect's inaugural fund and will stream the ceremony on Prime, matching another $1 million donation, according to a source familiar with the donation. Is. wall street journal First reported Amazon's plans.
Mark Zuckerberg's metaThe parent company of Facebook and Instagram also plans to send $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman plans to make a personal donation of $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund, according to an OpenAI spokesperson. fox news digital Altman's intended donation was first reported.
“President Trump will lead our country into the age of AI, and I look forward to supporting his efforts to ensure that America stays ahead,” Altman said in a statement.
Elon MuskThe world's richest man and CEO of X, Tesla and SpaceX, has become a regular presence at Trump's side at Mar-a-Lago, and has spent $277 million to help get Trump elected.
CBS News has contacted Reddit as well as major corporations that have donated to inaugural funds in the past, including Walmart, Home Depot and Target, for information about their plans.
According to a Google source, the company donated $285,000 to Biden's inaugural fund four years ago. Google has not yet announced plans to donate to Trump. InformationA tech news site and The Wall Street Journal reported that Google CEO Sundar Pichai had plans to meet with Trump.
After seeing a change, or at least a softening, in Trump's tone and stance after several years of in-person meetings, the tech company CEOs are going to meet him at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump told CNBC in an interview Thursday that Bezos would visit him “next week.” Bezos also owns the Washington Post, which refused to support A candidate in this year's presidential election, breaking the newspaper's previous precedent. “The President's endorsement does nothing to diminish the scale of the election,” Bezos wrote at the time.
Trump's relationships with social media and tech companies have in the past been tenuous, if not outright hostile.
During Trump's first term in the White House, he repeatedly criticized Bezos and Amazon, accusing the company of “causing great harm” to retailers and “towns, cities and states” across the US. He insisted that Amazon should pay more for the US Postal Service. delivery
But Trump has scaled back his public hostility toward the company, and Bezos — who previously said Trump's behavior with Hillary Clinton in 2016 and his refusal to accept the election results in 2020 “would destroy our democracy.” Is” – have also become soft.
Speaking at the recent New York Times DealBook Summit, Bezos said he is “very optimistic” about Trump's second term.
“What I've seen so far is that he's calmer and more collected than he was the first time,” Bezos said. “You've probably evolved over the last eight years. He's evolved too.”
Twitter (which was then called Twitter) and Facebook both blocked Trump from posting on their platforms after hundreds of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and Trump went to great lengths to try to stop them. Took less effort. musk restore again Trump's Facebook and Instagram Trump's accounts restored In early 2023.
Tech CEOs weren't so eager to donate to Trump's first inaugural committee after his 2016 victory.
for trump 2017 inaugurationWhich raised an astonishing $107 million, its biggest donors largely comprised of sports teams, casinos, venture capital firms and banks. Their most generous donor, $5 million, was Sheldon Adelson, the late founder of Las Vegas Sands, who died in 2021. But, apart from GoDaddy.com founder Bob Parsons, leaders of big-name tech companies weren't giving him $1 million. Trump for the first time.
The Trump Inaugural Committee, officially known as the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)(4) entity that is responsible for planning inauguration events, and can accept unlimited donations. Trump ally former Senator Kelly Loeffler and investor Steve Witkoff are co-chairs of the committee. When he announced his inaugural committee and co-chairs, Trump said the committee would “honor” the “resounding victory” he and his team had in bringing down his administration.
Inaugural committees add pomp and circumstance to inaugurations, but not at taxpayers' expense. They also provide a way for donors to lobby the incoming administration. Donors who give $1 million to Trump's inaugural committee can expect not only tickets but also a one-on-one meeting with the incoming president and vice president, as well as Cabinet officials.
The President-elect's Inaugural Committee differs from the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies established by Congress, which is underwritten by taxpayers. Congressional committees composed of members of both parties plan and run the swearing-in ceremony as well as the inaugural luncheon for the President and Vice President at the Capitol.
The Presidential Committee is responsible for all events other than those occurring at the Capitol.
Only about $3.7 million was appropriated for the committee for a 2025 inauguration, according to Congressional Research ServiceBut taxpayers will spend more than that. The conservative National Taxpayers Union Foundation estimates that the 2021 inauguration, not counting the security lockdown following the January 6 Capitol attack, cost minimization $73 million.
Contributed to this report.