Business

Bezos, Zuckerberg, Pichai, Cook scramble for Trump time

Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai and Tim Cook have all reportedly been getting sit-downs on the books with President-elect Trump before his administration starts.

Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp and Threads corporate parent Meta Platforms, traveled in November to Mar-a-Lago, where he met with the president-elect.

Trump said Dec. 12 that he and Bezos, the founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, had a meeting in the pipeline. 

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos speaks during the Leaders’ Action on Forests and Land-use event at the Cop26 summit at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in Glasgow. Picture date: Tuesday November 2, 2021.  (Photo by Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“Mark Zuckerberg’s been over to see me. I can tell you Elon [Musk] is another, and Jeff Bezos is coming up next week,” he told CNBC at the time. 

TRUMP SAYS HE AND JEFF BEZOS ARE SLATED TO HAVE A SIT-DOWN NEXT WEEK

According to The Information and The Washington Post, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Trump were slated to have a get-together on Dec. 12, the same day that Trump revealed his upcoming meeting with Bezos. 

Sundar Pichai

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 06: Sundar Pichai speaks onstage Vox Media’s 2022 Code Conference – Day 1 on September 06, 2022 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Vox Media) ((Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Vox Media) / Getty Images)

FOX Business reached out to Google for comment on The Information’s report of the planned meeting, including a spokesperson who did not know and another who did not respond. Regarding it, Trump Communications Director Steven Cheung said in a statement, “We do not comment on reports of private meetings that did or did not occur.” 

While talking about Zuckerberg, Musk and Bezos on Dec. 12, Trump said, “I want to get ideas from them. Look, we want them to do well, we want everybody to, and we want great jobs, fantastic salaries. We want people to love and when they wake up in the morning, like get up and ‘I love to go to work, I want to go to work.’ We want people working, and we want them working for a lot of money.”

A dinner between Apple CEO Tim Cook and Trump was also poised to occur Dec. 13, The New York Times reported, citing unnamed sources. FOX Business reached out to the Trump transition team and Apple for comment.

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks at Anti-Defamation League’s “Never is Now” summit in New York City, New York, U.S., December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid / Reuters Photos)

TRUMP VOWS ‘TREMENDOUS INCENTIVE’ ON TAXES DURING NYSE VISIT

Trump will officially take office following his inauguration in the nation’s capital on Jan. 20. 

“He seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation, and my point of view, if I can help him do that, I’m going to help him,” Bezos told The New York Times in early December.

Pichai also talked to The New York Times during its DealBook Summit held Dec. 4.

“In my conversations with him, he’s definitely very focused on American competitiveness, particularly in technology, including AI,” the Google CEO said in footage from that event, adding he and Trump had not talked about the antitrust case against the tech giant. 

In recent weeks, Trump has been unveiling picks for the Federal Trade Commission, Federal Communications Commission, Department of Justice and other top government positions, paving the way for the new administration that the companies Bezos, Zuckerberg, Pichai and Cook are associated with will soon have to navigate. 

trump at the nyse

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 12: President-elect Donald Trump rings the opening bell on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on December 12, 2024 in New York City. Trump was invited to the Exchange after being named TIME’s “Person ( Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The business leaders expressed a willingness to collaborate with the incoming Trump administration on Nov. 6 after his election win was announced. 

MARK ZUCKERBERG VISITS TRUMP AT MAR-A-LAGO, REPORTEDLY ‘WANTS TO SUPPORT THE NATIONAL RENEWAL’

Zuckerberg, whose company has drawn criticism from Trump on multiple occasions in the past, said on Threads that he was “looking forward to working with you and your administration,” while Pichai said, “We are in a golden age of American innovation and are committed to working with his administration to help bring benefits to everyone.” 

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., during the Meta Connect event in Menlo Park, California, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023. Meta Platforms Inc. introduced its latest lineup of head-worn devices, staking fresh claim to (Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Cook similarly said Apple “look[ed] forward to engaging” with the administration “to help make sure the United States continues to lead with and be fueled by ingenuity, innovation, and creativity.” 

“Wishing @realDonaldTrump all success in leading and uniting the America we all love,” Bezos wrote. 

Meta Platforms, Amazon and Alphabet were collectively worth $10.04 trillion on a market capitalization basis as of Friday evening.

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