"Bezos to Meet Trump"... Mar-a-Lago Crowded with Big Tech Leaders

Donald Trump, the President-elect of the United States set to take office in January next year, is seeing his Mar-a-Lago residence swarmed by big tech (large information technology companies) leaders. Following Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, has also made efforts to court Trump. Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, who have previously clashed not only with Trump but also with Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and a close ally of Trump, are now attempting to improve relations one after another.

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According to U.S. political media outlet The Hill and others, Trump indicated a meeting with Bezos at Mar-a-Lago during the New York Stock Exchange bell-ringing ceremony on the 12th (local time), saying, "Bezos is coming next week." Mar-a-Lago, located in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently being used as the headquarters for the transition team of the incoming administration. It is Trump’s residence.

The meeting was reportedly arranged due to Bezos’ active courting, foreign media reported. Earlier, on the 4th, Bezos said, "(Trump) seems to be putting a lot of energy into reducing regulations," and added, "If I can help him, I will," showing a proactive stance. Bezos, who had a strained relationship with Trump due to critical coverage by The Washington Post (WP), which he owns, started to mend ties ahead of the election by blocking editorials supporting Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate.

Bezos is not the only big tech CEO courting Trump. In a separate interview with CNBC, Trump said, "Zuckerberg came to see me. I have Musk, and Bezos is coming next week," adding, "I want to get ideas from them and hope they do well." Zuckerberg, known as a longtime supporter of the Democratic Party, also had an uncomfortable relationship with Trump after blocking Trump’s Facebook account following the January 6 Capitol riot incited by Trump supporters.

Especially as Musk, who has rapidly risen as Trump’s 'first buddy,' expands his influence, businesspeople who have clashed with him are also stepping up their efforts. Zuckerberg, for example, attended a dinner at Mar-a-Lago at the end of last month, expressing his desire to participate in reforms under the Trump administration, and it was recently confirmed that he donated $1 million (about 1.4 billion KRW) to Trump’s inauguration preparation fund. Zuckerberg and Musk are rivals competing for dominance in social networking services (SNS) and were once rumored to have a 'real fight' (hyeonpi), making them bitter enemies.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, who is currently in a lawsuit with Musk, also sent a love call in an early this month Fox News interview, expressing eagerness to cooperate with the Trump administration so that the U.S. can gain an advantage in the artificial intelligence (AI) technology competition with China. Regarding Musk, who split from OpenAI over its commercialization, Altman praised him, saying, "I looked up to him like a superhero when I was young," but also warned, "It is extremely un-American for Elon to use political power to harm competitors."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.