On Monday, several CEOs from some of the biggest corporations in the world traveled to Washington, D.C., to celebrate the new president of the United States, so you might be forgiven for thinking that the nation’s capital was America’s business hub.
Some Trump detractors echoed outgoing President Joe Biden’s fear of an oligarchy establishing itself in America after these CEOs were placed ahead of some of Trump’s incoming cabinet members.
Elon Musk of Tesla (TSLA), Mark Zuckerberg of Meta (META), Tim Cook of Apple (AAPL), Sundar Pichai of Google (GOOG), and Jeff Bezos of Amazon (AMZN) were among the all-star group of tech CEOs, together with their families and partners, who attended President Donald Trump’s Inauguration on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. They also attended the pre-inauguration church ceremony with Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, who will be the new first lady.
Following a turbulent weekend for the app—which went offline late Saturday after the Supreme Court upheld a legislation prohibiting it unless Chinese parent company ByteDance divests its U.S. operations—TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was also invited. The popular video-sharing app, however, gave credit to newly elected President Trump for permitting its relaunch on Sunday, following Trump’s announcement on Truth Social that there would “be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.”
During their live broadcast of the inauguration, CNN pundits were surprised to see that the IT leaders had been given better seats than several cabinet members.
However, it’s no secret that in the month since Trump’s election, a number of well-known business executives have been befriending him. Musk mobilized at least $119 million in voter support to help Trump win reelection, and Trump appointed the owner of X (previously Twitter) and CEO of SpaceX to lead his Department of Government Efficiency (often known as “DOGE”).
After suspending Trump from Facebook in January 2021 after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Zuckerberg has also promised to “work with President Trump” in a series of about-faces for his social media platforms Instagram and Facebook, which have been accused of anticonservative bias. (His reinstatement has since occurred.) In an effort to reinstate “free expression” on Facebook, Zuckerberg recently modified the fact-checking procedure.
Additionally, a number of businesses, including major banks, automakers, fast-food restaurants, and cryptocurrency firms, have contributed to Trump’s Inauguration fund, helping to raise over $200 million in pledges and shattering previous fundraising records for the inaugural committee. Uber AR: Uber is contributing two million dollars. Amazon, Meta, Alphabet, OpenAI, JPMorgan Chase, Comcast, Delta, McDonald’s, Lockheed Martin, and Johnson & Johnson are among the numerous other companies contributing $1 million.
Some bitcoin companies, like Ripple, have been even more kind. Ripple donated $5 million worth of its XRP cryptocurrency. Crypto aficionados anticipate a more crypto-friendly regulatory climate under Trump, who has stated that he will be more supportive of the industry in his second term than in his first. Over the weekend, the Trumps even introduced two meme coins.
Trump is anticipated to begin signing executive orders on his first day in office after the glitz and glamour of his inaugural ceremony. One such order might be to declare illegal immigration a national emergency, which would allow him to enlist the military in his mass deportation plan. Trump’s executive orders for the first day will be covered here by MarketWatch.
