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Donald Trump is getting donations left and right from the biggest names in business.
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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was the latest to donate $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund.
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Technology leaders strive to get into or stay in his good graces and help shape his technology policies.
The latest business trend? Donate $1 million to Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Business leaders from all industries are trying to get on the president-elect’s good side ahead of his return to the Oval Office, and some are opening their wallets — or their companies’ — to do so.
The president-elect is receiving donations for his inaugural fund from Mark Zuckerberg via Meta, Jeff Bezos via Amazon and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.
Meta confirmed to BI earlier this week that it is donating $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund. Amazon told the Financial Times that it is donating $1 million to the fund and will also broadcast the inauguration on Prime Video.
OpenAI’s Altman plans to put $1 million of his personal money into the inauguration fund, Fox News reported Friday, citing a source working with Altman. Amazon and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment from BI.
Some tech leaders are trying to make peace with Trump after he repeatedly criticized them in his first four years in the White House and then sued some of them. Trump has spoken out about his desire to go after Big Tech in his second term.
Trump’s victory in November set off a chorus of CEOs publicly congratulating him — as well as phone calls with the president-elect and trips to Mar-a-Lago.
Trump told CNBC on Thursday that Bezos would visit him for dinner “next week,” and The Information reported that Google CEO Sundar Pichai would also travel to meet Trump. In the landmark antitrust case against Google, the Justice Department asked a judge to force Google to sell its Chrome web browser.
Zuckerberg and Trump shared a dinner at Mar-a-Lago last month after Trump threatened to jail Zuckerberg if he was re-elected. Meta’s president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, told reporters earlier this month that Zuckerberg is “very keen to play an active role” in Trump’s technology policymaking.
Other big names in business watched Trump ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, the same day he was named Time’s Person of the Year.
The audience reportedly included Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, Target CEO Brian Cornell, Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg.
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