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Amazon will donate $1 million in cash to Donald Trump’s inaugural fund, the company confirmed Thursday, as Big Tech companies seek to forge a relationship with the next U.S. president.
Amazon’s move comes after Facebook and Instagram’s parent company Meta similarly donated $1 million to the fund. Amazon also plans to broadcast President Trump’s inauguration on its Prime Video service.
President Trump has long accused Big Tech companies of numerous wrongdoings, including censorship of conservative media. Big tech executives rushed to congratulate him after his November election victory, in sharp contrast to their cautious reception of his first term, which called for relief from pressure over antitrust, trade and artificial intelligence. It was.
Amazon’s executive chairman and founder Jeff Bezos is also scheduled to visit Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort next week, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on Amazon’s donation.
Google and Apple CEOs Sundar Pichai and Tim Cook, respectively, offered their congratulations to President Trump shortly after the election. Pichai is scheduled to meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, the Information reported, and Mehta CEO Mark Zuckerberg dined with Trump there after his election victory.
The move comes after X Company billionaire Elon Musk donated tens of millions of dollars to the Trump campaign and was later installed as one of the president-elect’s closest allies. President Trump has named Musk to lead a group considering broad reforms to the government bureaucracy.
Apple’s hardware business could also be exposed to President Trump’s wide-ranging tariff plans, which risk disrupting key Chinese supply chains. During President Trump’s first term, Cook was able to secure a carve-out for the company’s products.
Trump clashed with Amazon during his first term, accusing the online retail giant of putting companies out of business and criticizing its tax policies.
In 2018, he also ordered a review of the U.S. Postal Service’s package delivery fees, citing the post office’s role as Amazon’s “delivery agent.”
Amazon has come under increased pressure under the Biden administration, with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission under President Lina Khan and several states filing landmark monopoly lawsuits against the company last year.
The FTC is also investigating major cloud service providers, including Amazon, regarding their generative AI partnerships.
After the first assassination attempt against Trump in the summer, Bezos praised X for his “incredible grace and courage under literal gunfire.”
Mr. Bezos, who owns the Washington Post, also blocked the paper from endorsing Mr. Trump’s Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, in October. He denied that the deal was part of a quid pro quo between Trump and his rocket company, Blue Origin, which competes with Musk’s SpaceX.
