According to information published by the media “Axios” on January 3, the powerful leader is thus concretizing an ongoing relationship with the president-elect, who will be inaugurated on January 20.
How things can change in eight years. With the wind rising in 2016 against the newly elected President Donald Trump, the leaders of Silicon Valley are today taking great care of the man who will return to the White House on January 20. Among the most caring of the powerful tech CEOs based in northern California, Apple boss Tim Cook. According to the media Axios, Steve Jobs’ successor will pay one million dollars (970,000 euros) of his personal fortune to co-finance Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony on January 20.
“Cook, a proud Alabama native, considers the inauguration a great American tradition and makes this donation in the spirit of unity,” explains the report consulted and published by Axios on January 3, which also clarifies that it is the CEO and not the company who will sign the check. The man who has led the multinational since 2011 joins his colleague Sam Altman, CEO of Open AI, who announced in December that he would sign a check for one million dollars to co-finance the investiture ceremony. On the Meta or Amazon side, it was the companies (and not the CEOs) who announced in December that they would pay a similar sum.
Like other leaders of tech giants, Tim Cook is continuing an ongoing relationship with the Republican president, whom he met several times during his first term. In particular by obtaining from the Republican, in 2019, an exemption from customs tariffs for precious components imported from China intended to make up its computers.
“Now it’s very simple, I only have friends”
A successful agreement which first materialized in congratulations without hesitation after the victory of the New Yorker on November 6: “Congratulations to President Trump on your victory! We look forward to working with you and your administration to ensure that America continues to shine in ingenuity, innovation and creativity.” Then by a dinner at Mar-a-Lago in December, where Cook came to ask for a new exemption from customs duties from the future strongman. Enough to satisfy Trump who, under the gilt of his Florida residence, had squeaked: “During my first term, everyone was against me. Now, it’s very simple, I only have friends. Something must have changed in my personality…”
This access of generosity will not go unrequited, especially symbolic. According to the New York Times, which notes that the foundation dedicated to the nomination has already received 200 million dollars, the million donors, including Goldman Sachs or Bank of America, but also the cryptocurrency platforms Kraken and Coinbase, will receive six tickets to attend at eight events around the inauguration ceremony. But also at a dinner “elegant and intimate” in the company of the Potus and the First Lady. Those close to Trump assure that this should not be seen as a way of currying favor with the president: “It is an ancestral tradition in which these companies participate with all the more enthusiasm since they had taken a back seat during the previous mandate.”
