Jakarta – As expected, several top executives of major technology companies in the United States (US) attended the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
According to a TikTok video by Bloomberg Politics, tech leaders in attendance included Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg accompanied by his wife Priscilla Chan Zuckerberg, TikTok CEO Shou Chew, Amazon Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos with his partner Lauren Sanchez, and Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin.
The second inauguration ceremony of Donald Trump took place on Monday, January 20, 2025, at 12 PM local time or 00:00 WIB on Tuesday, January 21, 2025.
Here are some of the executives and #CEOs in attendance at #Trump’s second #inauguration — Follow our live coverage for the most recent updates. #politics #news ♬ original sound – Bloomberg Politics
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Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg have recently developed closer ties with Trump, especially Musk, who has supported Trump through campaign funding and social media platforms.
Musk was Trump’s largest campaign donor in the 2024 Presidential Election, contributing around a quarter of a billion dollars. Trump announced that Musk would head the Department of Government Efficiency to streamline government operations.
Bezos, the owner of Amazon and The Washington Post, abruptly blocked the newspaper’s journalists from endorsing presidential candidates shortly before the Post declared its support for Kamala Harris. This indicated Bezos’s support for Trump.
The move sparked outrage, leading to journalist resignations and a dramatic drop in The Washington Post’s subscriptions. Amazon later donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund, as did Meta.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced plans to eliminate fact-checking programs on his social media platforms and increase political content. The move was seen as facilitating more conservative commentary, aligning with Trump’s argument that right-wing voices are censored on social media.
According to The Guardian, Zuckerberg also hosted a reception alongside major Republican donor Miriam Adelson to celebrate Trump’s inauguration.
Other tech leaders have also thrown their support behind Trump. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced last month that he would personally donate $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund.
Generous donors to the inauguration committee were rewarded with a dinner alongside the President-elect and his wife, Melania Trump, before the ceremony and upon their return to the White House.
The sudden support from some of the wealthiest individuals has raised concerns and questions about their motives.
According to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), Trump’s proposed economic policies would cut taxes for the wealthiest 5% of Americans.