The Washington Post’s owner and founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, is the most recent billionaire to visit Donald Trump at his club in Florida.
A video shared on social media on Wednesday night showed him walking into Mar-a-Lago on his way to dinner with the president-elect.
Elon Musk has reportedly joined the pair, according to US media. “It was a great conversation,” Mr. Musk later tweeted.
A number of tech leaders donated to Trump’s inaugural fund, including Mr. Bezos’ commitment of $1 million (780,000).
Through a number of his businesses, such as Amazon’s cloud computing division and his space exploration company Blue Origin, Mr. Bezos has substantial business ties to the US government.
Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Sam Altman of OpenAI, Shou Zi Chew of TikTok, and Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, are among the other people who have lately visited Mar-a-Lago.
Trump is also expected to meet with Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Thursday.
Trump, who has accused some digital giants of censorship and pledged to tighten rules on some of their business practices, has both complimented and threatened these corporations.
Amazon will stream Trump’s inaugural on its Prime Video service, which will result in an additional $1 million in-kind donation to his inauguration fund, according to CBS News, the BBC’s US news partner.
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, and Mr. Zuckerberg of Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, have both donated $1 million to the fund.
Public documents show that Mr. Musk contributed over $250 million to help Trump’s campaign.
Trump has designated Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk to spearhead a campaign to cut government expenditures. For the fiscal year 2024, Mr. Musk’s SpaceX has $3.8 billion in US federal contracts, according to the government database USASpending.gov.
Additionally, Mr. Bezos has a substantial business relationship with the government.
In 2021, the National Security Agency won a $10 billion, 10-year contract to Amazon Web Services. In 2023, Blue Origin was awarded a $3.4 billion contract by NASA to construct a lunar lander for a future lunar mission.
Days before the November election, The Washington Post said that, for the first time in decades, it will not be endorsing any candidates.
In order to justify his choice, Mr. Bezos claimed that endorsements give the impression of partiality.
He wrote in the Post that ending them is the proper thing to do and a moral decision.
Since before the election, Mr. Musk and other business executives have been part of Trump’s inner circle, including Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and Trump’s choice for commerce secretary.
But the relationship between billionaires and other tech leaders has been more strained.
After losing the 2020 election, Trump was suspended from Facebook after the Capitol violence, although he was later allowed to return.
Mr. Zuckerberg seems to have taken a different approach this time.
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Eliot Pierce is a dedicated writer for ChiefsFocus.com, covering local crime and finance news. With a keen eye for detail and a passion for storytelling, Eliot aims to provide his readers with clear and insightful analysis, helping them navigate the complexities of their financial lives while staying informed about important local events. His commitment to delivering accurate and engaging content makes him a valuable resource for the community.