Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are planning to donate $1 million each to Donald Trump’s inaugural fund, as tech leaders line up to get on the president-elect’s good side just a month before he takes the oath a second time.
Bezos and the e-commerce giant he started in the garage of his Seattle-area home in 1994 informed Trump aides earlier this week that they planned to make the $1 million donation, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Altman, the CEO of ChatGPT creator OpenAI, which is in a legal dispute with prominent Trump adviser Elon Musk, is also planning to donate $1 million to the inaugural fund, an Altman spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
“President Trump will lead our country into the age of AI, and I am eager to support his efforts to ensure America stays ahead,” Altman said in a written statement.
Earlier this month, the Journal reported that Altman, a registered Democrat, feared his strained relationship with Musk would put his company at a disadvantage during a second Trump administration that will decide on major regulatory decisions it has likely to affect OpenAI.
According to the Journal, Altman sought to enter Trump’s inner circle by reaching out to friends and associates who know the president-elect and his advisers, including Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, his venture capitalist brother Josh Kushner and others. .
Meanwhile, Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon CEO in 2021 but remains the company’s largest shareholder, is making the donation through the firm, according to the Journal report.
Amazon will also stream the inauguration live on Prime — which counts as a separate, in-kind donation worth $1 million, according to the Journal.
The company broadcast live the inauguration of President Joe Biden in 2021, although it was told by the Biden transition team that it was not accepting any donations from technology companies for its inaugural fund.
The Post has sought comment from Amazon and the Trump transition team.
Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post, issued a planned editorial endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris just days before November 11. 5 election, is making the trip to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump, who has been a fierce critic of the mogul.
Last week, Bezos said he is “optimistic” about Trump’s second term and expressed some excitement about potential regulatory cuts in the coming years.
“I’m actually very optimistic this time,” Bezos told The New York Times DealBook Summit in New York.
“He seems to have a lot of energy about reducing regulation. If I can help to do that, I will help him.”
“We have a lot of regulations in this country,” Bezos added.
Trump had criticized Bezos and his companies, including Amazon and the Washington Post, during his first term.
In 2019, Amazon argued in a court case that Trump’s bias against the company hurt its chances of winning a $10 billion contract with the Pentagon.
The Biden administration later pursued a contract with Amazon and Microsoft.
Earlier this week, the Journal revealed that Meta, the tech giant run by another former Trump photographer, Mark Zuckerberg, also poured $1 million into the inaugural fund.
Zuckerberg, who Trump suggested should be jailed for a $400 million donation he made to a 2020 voting nonprofit, met with the president-elect last month at Mar-a-Lago.
During the dinner, Zuckerberg, who has vowed to remain neutral in his political activities after his social network Facebook restricted distribution of The Post’s exclusive reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020, presented Trump with a pair of Ray Ban smart glasses, according to Journal. .
Bezos and Zuckerberg aren’t the only tech titans who have made it a point to cozy up to Trump in recent months.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has managed to develop a rapport with Trump in recent years. The two men maintained an open channel of communication that included phone calls as well as meeting for meals.
Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai, whose company has also been accused of tipping the scales in favor of Democrats, will meet with Trump on Thursday.
Marc Benioff, co-founder and CEO of Salesforce, praised Trump after the magazine he owns, TIME, named the president-elect its “Person of the Year” for the second time.
By postal wire
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