Apple, Meta, and SoftBank have all cozied up to Trump ahead of his second term.
In a string of visits, dinners, calls, monetary pledges, and social media overtures, big tech chiefs—including Apple’s Tim Cook, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos—have joined a parade of business and world leaders in trying to improve their standing with President-elect Donald Trump before he takes office in January.
“The first term, everybody was fighting me,” Trump said in remarks at Mar-a-Lago. “In this term, everybody wants to be my friend.”
Tech companies and leaders have now poured millions into his inauguration fund, a sharp increase—in most cases—from past pledges to incoming presidents. But what does the tech industry expect to gain out of their renewed relationships with Trump?
During an interview Tuesday, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said the incoming Trump administration seems more interested in hearing about issues that are important to the industry than the Biden administration.
“Put all the politics aside, everybody wants to reboot some things,” said Benioff, who stressed he strives to stay nonpartisan because he also owns Time magazine. “We are just at a very exciting moment, it’s a new chapter for America. I think we should all have our best intentions going forward. I think a lot of people realize there is a lot of incredible people like Elon Musk in the tech industry and in the business community. If you tap the power and expertise of the best in America to make the best of America, that’s a great vision.”
