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The latest business trend? Donating $1 million to Donald Trump's inauguration.
Business leaders across industries are trying to get on the president-elect's good side ahead of his return to the Oval Office, and some are breaking out their wallets — or their company's — to do so.
A handful of automakers recently joined the mix, with Ford, GM, and Toyota each planning to chip in $1 million to the President-elect's fund.
In finance, Citadel founder Ken Griffin also reportedly plans to give $1 million towards Trump's inauguration, and Goldman Sachs and Bank of America will donate unspecified amounts to the fund. Crypto exchange Coinbase is in for $1 million, and Robinhood for $2 million.
Tech leaders and firms kicked off the donations to Trump's inauguration.
Meta previously confirmed to BI that it's donating $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund. Amazon told the Financial Times it's giving $1 million to the fund and will also air the inauguration on Prime Video. Uber and its CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, each gave an additional $1 million.
Sam Altman is kicking in $1 million of his personal money to the inauguration fund, OpenAI confirmed. Altman said in a statement to multiple news outlets, "President Trump will lead our country into the age of AI, and I am eager to support his efforts to ensure America stays ahead."
As for the tech leaders, some may be trying to make peace with Trump after he repeatedly criticized them in his first four years at the White House and subsequently sued some of them. Trump has been vocal about wanting to go after Big Tech in his second term as well.
Trump's victory in November set off a chorus of CEOs publicly congratulating him — as well as taking phone calls with the president-elect and making trips to Mar-a-Lago.
Trump and recently Bezos met for dinner, joined by Elon Musk, and multiple news outlets reported Apple CEO Tim Cook also traveled to Mar-a-Lago to dine with the president-elect.
The Information reported that Google CEO Sundar Pichai would also travel to meet with Trump. In its landmark antitrust case against Google, the Justice Department asked a judge to force Google to sell off Chrome, its web browser.
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Zuckerberg and Trump shared dinner at Mar-a-Lago last month months after Trump had threatened to imprison Zuckerberg if reelected. 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 tech policymaking.
Other big names in business watched Trump ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month on the same day he was named Time's Person of the Year.
Onlookers 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.
