Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos… Tech bosses at the forefront of Trump's inauguration

Never mind the polar weather which almost spoiled the party by moving the festivities indoors, under the Capitol rotunda. Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Tim Cook (Apple), Sundar Pichai (Google)…: the big bosses of American tech will be in the front row this Monday at the inauguration of Donald Trump, in the presidential platform, alongside VIPs but also Elon Musk, who joined the president's bodyguard.

Even Shou Chew, the CEO of TikTok, will be present alongside them. The leader, who resides in Singapore, has taken up residence in Washington for several months in order to save his application, which was destined to be banned in the United States. Donald Trump promised on Sunday to sign a decree as quickly as possible to extend the deadline. The only absentee is Jenseng Huang, CEO of Nvidia. The semiconductor king is currently in Taiwan for Lunar New Year celebrations. “Our end-of-year celebration is very important, because it allows me to thank our employees who work very hard”he told the press.

Parade at Mar-a-Lago

No one would have bet a few months ago on the entire presence of these Silicon Valley executives at Trump's inauguration. It illustrates the unexpected rallying since last November of the big tech bosses, known until then for their progressive ideas and their distrust of the former real estate mogul. As the start of his mandate approaches, everyone wants to curry favor with him, fearing both for their businesses and for the future of regulation of the sector. They have all marched in recent weeks at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump's Florida residence, to pledge allegiance to the 47th president of the United States. Besides Elon Musk, who got involved in the Republican candidate's campaign last spring, it was Mark Zuckerberg – undoubtedly the most hated by Trump – who went furthest in his turnaround, announcing drastic measures at Meta in view of “restore freedom of expression” and stop « censure ».

Everyone contributed to this day by financing the fund dedicated to the inauguration of the president. At the beginning of December, Mark Zuckerberg was the first to contribute a million dollars to Meta. Then the others followed. Including Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Only Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, financed it with his personal funds. Their contributions allowed Trump to break records with $200 million in donations for the inauguration, double the amounts collected by his predecessors.

Proof of this allegiance to President-elect Jeff Bezos, once nicknamed « Jeff Bozo » (the clown) by Donald Trump, who had triggered the anger of the editorial staff of Washington Post – which he owns – by refusing to allow it to support candidate Kamala Harris, decided to broadcast the inauguration live on Prime Video. Furthermore, a new and already controversial documentary on Melania Trump, co-produced by the First Lady, should be broadcast in the second half of the year on the streaming platform.

Participation in the festivities

Big Tech bosses are also taking part in the inauguration festivities. Most of them were present at the reception given Saturday evening at Peter Thiel's home in the very upscale Woodley Park neighborhood of Washington. The billionaire, co-founder of PayPal, played a key role in Trump's campaign, its financing, and the choice of his running mate JD Vance. Mark Zuckerberg as well as Joel Kaplan, a close friend of Trump whom he has just appointed head of public affairs at Meta, were present, as was the future vice-president, a veteran of Silicon Valley. Among the guests were also Sam Altman (OpenAI), Alexandr Wang (ScaleAI), and Travis Kalanick, the former boss of Uber.

More official, a popular meeting consecrating the victory of the movement «MAGA» took place on Sunday at Capital One Arena in Washington, during which Elon Musk spoke. A dinner was then organized by the president at the National Building Museum in the presence of Jeff Bezos, accompanied by his fiancée Lauren Sanchez, and the boss of X. The photos published by the tabloids even show the two rivals, joking, in full conversation.

Finally, several balls and receptions are planned after the inauguration. Monday evening, Mark Zuckerberg is hosting – alongside casino magnate Miriam Adelson and future US ambassador to Italy, Tilman Fertitta – a reception in honor of the richest Republican donors. A new role for the boss of Meta who went to Mar-a-Lago for the second time last week. He kept a low profile during the inauguration of Joe Biden, Barack Obama and the previous term of Donald Trump.