Amazon plans to donate $1 million to the fund for Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony, a move that comes as big tech companies seek to improve their relationship with the incoming president of the United States.
A company spokesperson confirmed Thursday night that Amazon will also stream Trump’s inauguration on its Prime Video service, a separate in-kind donation valued at another $1 million.
Hours earlier, Meta said he donated $1 million to the fund.
Amazon’s plans — which were first reported by The Wall Street Journal — emerged after Trump said Thursday morning that the company’s founder, Jeff Bezos, planned to visit him in person next week.
The two men had had differences in the past. During his first term, Trump criticized Amazon and lashed out at political coverage at The Washington Post, which is owned by Bezos.
For his part, Bezos had criticized some of Trump’s past rhetoric. In 2019, Amazon also argued in a court case that Trump’s bias against the company hurt its chances of winning a $10 billion Pentagon contract. The Biden administration later sought a contract with both Amazon and Microsoft.
Bezos has adopted a more conciliatory tone recently. He told The New York Times’ DealBook Summit in New York last week that he was “optimistic” about Trump’s second term, while also backing the president-elect’s plans to reduce regulations.
In October, Bezos did not allow the Post to endorse a presidential candidatea measure that led to the cancellation of subscriptions by tens of thousands of people and protests by journalists with a long history at the newspaper. At the time, Bezos wrote in a newspaper op-ed that editorial endorsements create a perception of bias at a time when many Americans don’t believe the media.
Separately, Meta’s donation, which was also initially reported by the WSJ, was announced just weeks after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg met privately with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. A company spokesperson confirmed the donation Thursday.
Stephen Miller, named deputy chief of staff for Trump’s second term, said Zuckerberg, like other business leaders, wants to support Trump’s economic plans. The technology CEO has sought to change the perception of his company among the right after a complicated relationship with Trump.
Trump was banned from Facebook following the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol. The company restored your account in early 2023.
During the 2024 campaign, Zuckerberg did not endorse any presidential candidate, but has taken a more positive stance toward Trump. He praised the reaction of the then candidate to his first assassination attempt.
However, Trump continued to publicly attack Zuckerberg during the campaign. In July, he posted a message on his own social network, Truth Social, threatening to send election fraudsters to jail, and used a nickname for Meta’s CEO. “ZUCKERBUCKS, be careful!” Trump wrote, using a pun on Zuckerberg’s last name and “bucks,” an informal word for dollars.
Corporations have traditionally made up a large portion of donors to presidential inaugurations, with the exception of 2009, when then-President-elect Barack Obama refused to accept corporate donations. He changed his position for his second inauguration in 2013.
Facebook did not donate to Biden’s 2021 inauguration or Trump’s 2017 inauguration.
Google donated $285,000 to Trump’s first inauguration and Biden’s, according to Federal Election Commission records. Inauguration committees are required to disclose the source of their funding, but not how they spend the money. Microsoft gave $1 million for Obama’s second inauguration, but only $500,000 for Trump’s in 2017 and Biden’s in 2021.
Amazon had donated about $58,000 to Trump’s first inauguration in 2017, far less than the $1 million it now plans to donate. The company also streamed Biden’s inauguration on Prime Video in 2021.
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