The 2017 inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump set the record for the most money raised, at approximately $107 million.Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
Major tech companies and CEOs have already lined up six-figure donations for Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Amazon, Sam Altman and Meta are each willing to donate $1 million.
There are virtually no limits on first-time donations, meaning Big Tech companies can save huge checks.
Major tech companies and the moguls behind them are preparing to make six-figure donations to newly elected President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee.
Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta have all reportedly earned or will earn $1 million from the organization charged with planning and organizing Trump’s triumphant return to power.
“Inauguration financing is really a cesspool when it comes to campaign finance,” Craig Holman, lobbyist for government watchdog Public Citizen, told Business Insider.
Holman said there are few, if any, limits on first-time donations, and what makes these particularly attractive is that megadonors and CEOs don’t have to worry about picking the loser.
“Unlike financing a campaign, when you’re not sure who’s going to win, you have the winner here at the inauguration,” he said. “So corporations and other special interests are just throwing money at them at the president’s feet, hoping to curry favor.”
Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, a public advocacy group, said donations to the founding committee would be less likely to irritate the opposition.
“They are often a mechanism for entities sitting out elections to get along with the new government,” he said.
Trump’s 2017 inauguration set a record, raising about $107 million. Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson donated $5 million, the largest donation ever. AT&T gave just over $2 million. For many in Washington, it was a time to make nice with an incoming president who few thought would win the 2016 race.
This time, Trump’s inauguration offers one last major opportunity for CEOs to influence the newly elected president at his peak.
Because his term is limited, the next big fundraising opportunity likely won’t come until Trump starts preparing for a presidential library (if that even happens). At that point, companies will have missed the time to make a final impression before mergers and acquisitions.
Playing ball can have great benefits. OpenSecrets found in 2018 that “of the 63 federal contractors who donated to the inauguration, more than half later won multimillion-dollar bids” from the federal government.
Foreign donors cannot contribute to a president-elect’s inaugural committee, and the committee must make public details of donations over $200 within 90 days of Inauguration Day. Otherwise, there are few limits on what individuals or companies can give, and founding committees do not have to explain how they are spending the money.
Some presidents, most notably Obama in 2009, impose voluntary restrictions on donations. Obama declined to accept corporate donations or individual contributions of more than $50,000 for his historic first inauguration, although he later lifted those limits for his re-election celebration.
Hauser said donations will allow companies to prepare for a particularly transactional period.
“I think companies with an agenda in Trump’s Washington, whether it’s offense, like winning new contracts, or defense, like avoiding negative federal oversight, are going to spend millions of dollars in Washington to make billions or in the real economy. Hauser said.
Amazon, Google and Meta have all faced antitrust issues. Republican lawmakers have regularly blasted Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg over Facebook’s decision to restrict sharing of the New York Post’s initial report on Hunter Biden’s laptop ahead of the 2020 election. Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, made donations to help election officials during the COVID-19 pandemic, angering some on the right, while Trump repeatedly called out Amazon founder Jeff Bezos over The Washington Post’s reporting on his first administration . Amazon sued the Trump administration after Microsoft won them a $10 billion cloud computing contract, claiming Trump’s hostility toward Bezos had hurt their chances.
Both Bezos and Zuckerberg have since taken steps to mend their relationships with the Trump world. Zuckerberg has expressed regret over Facebook’s decision to censor some posts about COVID-19. He also pledged not to donate to help election officials. Bezos intervened when The Post’s editorial staff was ready to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris.
Bezos also recently said that Trump “seemed calmer than the first time and calmer.”
“You’ve probably grown over the last eight years,” Bezos said at the New York Times DealBook Summit in December. “He did that too.”
Altman is embroiled in a legal battle with his OpenAI co-founder Elon Musk, who is becoming an influential figure in the Trump administration.
In a statement about his donation, Altman said: “President Trump will lead our country into the age of AI, and I am eager to support his efforts to ensure America stays ahead.”
Representatives for Amazon, Meta and Trump’s inauguration did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
To get a taste of what’s to come, just look at what happened at President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
A leaked fundraising memo revealed that large donations provided individuals and organizations with a host of benefits, including the opportunity to meet President Biden, receive private briefings from top campaign officials and “preferred viewing” for the virtual inauguration.
All of these benefits came from pandemic precautions. Trump’s party will have no such boundaries.
