The heads and founders of the biggest tech companies in the world are lining up to congratulate President-elect Trump on his second term following the election results Tuesday night. From Amazon (AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos to Microsoft’s (MSFT) Satya Nadella and Meta’s (META) Mark Zuckerberg, some of the most powerful names in the tech industry quickly moved to get off on the right foot with the president-elect.
Trump is entering a tech landscape that’s changed dramatically over the last four years thanks to the rise of generative artificial intelligence.
Tech companies are also staring down a number of antitrust lawsuits that Trump has the power to, if not call off, then at least provide marching orders with regard to potential remedies.
Big Tech has had an often acrimonious relationship with both the Trump and Biden administrations. After the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, Meta, Twitter, and YouTube banned Trump’s social media accounts, though they’ve each since reinstated them. Trump has an extra distaste for Zuckerberg, going as far as threatening to jail the CEO for life in his book.
Zuckerberg didn’t outright endorse Trump during the lead-up to the election, though during an interview with Bloomberg, he did say that Trump’s reaction to his assassination attempt, raising his fist in the air, was “badass.” The CEO then added, “On some level as an American, it’s hard to not get kind of emotional about that spirit and that fight, and I think that that’s why a lot of people like the guy.”
Zuckerberg posted his congratulatory note to Trump on his X competitor Threads, saying he looks forward to working with the Trump administration.
“We have great opportunities ahead of us as a country. Looking forward to working with you and your administration,” he wrote.
Bezos also has a difficult relationship with Trump. The Amazon and Blue Origin founder also owns the Washington Post, which Trump has accused of being biased against him. The Post was preparing to endorse Trump’s rival Vice President Kamala Harris for president, but in a stunning move Bezos forced the paper to cancel its plans.
As a result, the Post has reportedly lost more than 200,000 subscribers. Bezos then penned an op-ed for the paper saying that the decision to pull the endorsement was a principled one and that backing one candidate creates the perception of bias.
But Bezos also lauded Trump’s win on Wednesday, writing, “Big congratulations to our 45th and now 47th President on an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory.”
Microsoft’s Nadella and Apple’s Cook also offered their congratulations to Trump, with both CEOs saying that they look forward to engaging with the president-elect and his administration. Microsoft and Apple have had relatively good relationships with Trump over the years and have avoided much of the problems that Zuckerberg and Bezos have faced.
