Big Tech trying to improve their standing with Donald Trump
NEW YORK
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son smiles with President-elect Donald Trump during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla.
In a string of visits, dinners, calls, monetary pledges and social media overtures, big tech chiefs — including Apple's Tim Cook , 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 from past pledges to incoming presidents.
But what does the tech industry expect to gain out of their renewed relationships with Trump?
A clue to what the industry is looking for came just days before the election when Microsoft executives — who’ve largely tried to show a neutral or bipartisan stance — joined with a close Trump ally, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, to publish a blog post outlining their approach to artificial intelligence policy.
Trump has pledged to rescind President Joe Biden’s sweeping AI executive order, which sought to protect people’s rights and safety without stifling innovation.
Trump's choice to head the Interior Department, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, has spoken openly about the need to boost electricity production to meet increased demand from data centers and artificial intelligence.
“Maybe Big Tech should buy a copy of ‘The Art of The Deal’ to figure out how to best negotiate with this administration,” suggested Paul Swanson, an antitrust attorney for the law firm Holland & Hart.
“I won’t be surprised if they find ways to reach some accommodations and we end up seeing more negotiated resolutions and consent decrees.”
Although federal regulators began cracking down on Google and Facebook during Trump’s first term as president — and flourished under Biden — most experts expect his second administration to ease up on antitrust enforcement and be more receptive to business mergers.
Google may benefit from Trump’s return after he made comments on the campaign trail suggesting a breakup of the company isn’t in the U.S. national interest.
Altman , Amazon and Meta all pledged to donate $1 million each to Trump’s inaugural fund.
During his first term, Trump criticized Amazon and railed against the political coverage at The Washington Post, which billionaire Bezos owns.
More recently, Bezos has struck a more conciliatory tone. He recently said he was “optimistic” about Trump’s second term, while also endorsing president-elect’s plans to cut regulations.
The donation from Meta came just weeks after Zuckerberg met with Trump privately at Mar-a-Lago.
During the 2024 campaign, Zuckerberg did not endorse a candidate for president, but voiced a more positive stance toward Trump. Earlier this year, he praised Trump’s response to his first assassination attempt. Still, Trump in recent months had continued to attack Zuckerberg publicly.