Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg to attend Trump’s inauguration together
All three have been trying to get into Trump’s good books within the past year, with Musk donating hundreds of millions of dollars to help Trump win the 2024 election
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos will sit together with President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees and elected officials at his inauguration, an official involved in the planning told NBC News.
All three have been trying to get into Trump’s good books recently, with Musk donating hundreds of millions of dollars to help Trump win the 2024 election.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO is also leading the newly created Department of Government Efficiency alongside 2024 Republican primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. The advisory body will make suggestions on how to cut government spending. Musk appeared with Trump on the campaign trail after his endorsement, and has been a near-constant presence since the election.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made changes this month to his lobbying staff and content moderation policies to more closely align his company with the second Trump administration. Meta then donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has also rolled back its program on diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI. This comes after its decision to remove its third-party fact-checking program and roll back hate speech and abuse policies.
According to Axios, the tech behemoth stated in an internal memo that the U.S. Supreme Court “has recently made decisions signaling a shift in how courts will approach DEI ... The term ‘DEI’ has also become charged, in part because it is understood by some as a practice that suggests preferential treatment of some groups over others.”
The company will no longer have a team working on diversity and inclusion, saying that it will “focus on how to apply fair and consistent practices that mitigate bias for all, no matter your background.”
Meta will also put an end to its “diverse slate approach” in hiring, which saw a diverse candidate pool for every open role.
Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos put a stop to an expected endorsement of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris by the paper’s editorial board. He instead decided that the paper wouldn’t make an endorsement in the race, for the first time in 36 years. Similar to Meta, Amazon also donated $1 million to the inaugural fund.
The company has also revealed that it’s scaling back some of its DEI programs. In a memo on December 16, a senior human resources executive, Candi Castleberry, said that the firm has been “winding down outdated programs and materials, and we’re aiming to complete that by the end of 2024.”
“We also know there will always be individuals or teams who continue to do well-intentioned things that don’t align with our company-wide approach, and we might not always see those right away. But we’ll keep at it,” she added.
All three men are among the richest people in the world, having made their money with the help of the tech boom over the last couple of decades.
On the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk is ranked number one, Bezos comes in second place, and Zuckerberg is third.
All three are also competitors in some areas of the tech sector, such as artificial intelligence, space travel, and media.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments