Why the technology sector is cozying as much as Trump the 2nd time around

When Donald Trump is vouched in as the 47th head of state of the United States on Monday, several of the largest names in the technology sector will certainly be applauding on the u.s. president as he goes back to the Oval Office.

Amazon (AMZN) owner Jeff Bezos and Meta (META) CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Mark Zuckerberg will certainly participate in the occasion,according to NBC News Apple (AAPL) CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Tim Cook, that has traditionally had an excellent partnership with Trump, will certainly additionally go to the commencement,the New York Times reported They’ll be signed up with by Trump booster and Tesla (TSLA) CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICERElon Musk Even TikTok Chief Executive Officer Shou Chew, that is wishing Trump will certainly conserve the social media sites system from being efficiently closed down in the United States, will certainly get on hand, according to the Wall Street Journal.

But these execs aren’t simply taking seats at the commencement, with numerous technology leaders amongst the largest backers of the president-elect because his win in November.

Cook additionally added to Trump’s commencement, according to Axios, as did Amazon and Meta, with CNBC reporting on payments from Google (GOOG, GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT).

None of this would certainly be specifically unusual throughout most inaugural financing statements.

After all, technology business and execs additionally contributed to Biden’s inaugural committee.

But Trump has actually openly competed with a variety of technology leaders in the past, consisting of Bezos and Zuckerberg, also reaching intimidating to prison the last.

“It speaks to two things,” Deepwater Asset Management handling companion Gene Munster informed Yahoo Finance.

“No. 1 is that tech companies have understood over the past five years that Washington is a bigger X factor in their future, and so there’s just a natural willingness to work more closely with the administration.

“The second is Trump values loyalty, and one way that people kind of express loyalty to him is to give money. And so, for him to take you seriously, you have to get to pay to play.”

Bezos and Zuckerberg may have the most to gain by turning around their relationships with Trump. Bezos had a tumultuous relationship with the president-elect during his first term due to the fact that the Amazon chairman also owns the Washington Post.

Trump regularly sparred with Bezos online, tying the Post’s coverage of him to Bezos himself.

In the lead-up to the election, Bezos made a move to prevent the Post’s editorial board from backing Vice President Kamala Harris for president.

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yf-1pe5jgt “>Hundreds of thousands of Post subscribers canceled their subscriptions following Bezos’s decision.

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Bezos runs SpaceX rival Blue Origin, and getting on Trump’s good side could mean better opportunities to win government contracts in the years ahead. That’ll be especially important for the company at a time when SpaceX CEO Musk has the president-elect’s ear.

Zuckerberg has been on Trump’s bad side for years. Trump called out Zuckerberg during his first term, claiming the Meta CEO was purposely silencing conservative voices on his platforms. Things got worse from there when Zuckerberg suspended Trump’s Facebook account following the Jan. 6, 2020, attack on the Capitol.

As Trump looked more like he would win the election, Zuckerberg had been transforming himself and his company to win over the president-elect. The CEO has made controversial moves, including killing off its fact-checking program in favor of a community notes style of fact-checking similar to that found on X. Zuckerberg also put an end to the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, joining a chorus of executives taking similar actions.

Bezos and Zuckerberg may be the most noteworthy executives to back Trump, thanks to their prior run-ins, but they aren’t the only ones. And political donations certainly aren’t out of the realm of the ordinary for American companies.

“All of these executives support whoever is president with monetary donations,” Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst at ZK Research, told Yahoo Finance. “However, this administration will be pro-business and these current executives making big donations are ensuring that they have a voice at the table when policies are being made.”

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svelte-nxhdlu “>It won’t hurt for Altman to get off on the right foot with Trump, either. Especially since Musk, who is trying to dismantle OpenAI, is already so close to the future president. Apple’s Cook, meanwhile, would have the president’s ear to discuss the potential for tariffs and their impact on Apple’s revenue, not to mention the company’s ongoing antitrust issues.

Microsoft and Google, for their part, could benefit from being in Trump’s good graces at a time when the companies are facing increased scrutiny around mergers and acquisitions. Like Apple, the firms could also seek out assistance when it comes to antitrust matters.

Now tech leaders will need to continue working to ensure their efforts to woo Trump pay off or risk their plans going up in smoke.

“This is just a reality of navigating the world that’s become more political,” Munster added.

yf-1pe5jgt” >”>Sign up for Yahoo Finance’s Week in Tech newsletter. · yahoofinance

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