Top CEOs court president-elect ahead of inauguration

The past few weeks saw America’s top CEOs cozying up to Donald Trump, with Apple’s Tim Cook, Google’s Sundar Pichai, and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg among those making high-profile visits to Mar-a-Lago.

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is set to follow suit this week, despite Trump blasting the company and his publication, The Washington Post, in the past.

The move contrasts corporate leaders distancing themselves from Trump following the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Why now?
Trump’s pro-business promises have executives eager to stay on his good side.

ChatGPT maker OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman recently said that the president-elect “will lead our country into the age of AI.”

Even liberal-leaning tech leaders seem eager to get into his good books, signaling Trump’s growing sway over corporate America.

Firms like Meta, Amazon and OpenAI each pledged $1 million to his inaugural fund.

As he addressed the New York Stock Exchange this week, Trump was met with cheers. A line of influential executives from Visa to Goldman Sachs congratulated him on being named Time’s “Person of the Year” for a second time.

While corporate leaders beeline towards the president-elect, allies like Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk are cementing influence in Trump’s inner circle as he crafts an agenda aimed at deregulation, innovation, and boosting US dominance.