Why business leaders spend big

Top CEOs and their companies are pledging to donate millions of dollars to the president-elect Donald Trump‘s founding committee as they try to get on his good side and move forward before he takes office.

Some of them planned donations reported includes $1 million each Jeff Bezos‘ AmazonOpenAI CEO Sam Altman and parent company Facebook Metaled Mark Zuckerberg. Others include $2 million Robinhood markets and $1 million from both Uber and its CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi.

Ford does reported is matching its $1 million donation with a fleet of cars.

Hedge fund manager Ken Griffin he also said he plans to give $1 million to the first tax-exempt committee. Bloomberg reported on this. It is reported that there are other donations from financial leaders in affairs.

Buoyed by a decisive election victory, Trump has vowed to reshape US economic policy in a way that could greatly benefit a few favored industries, such as fossil fuels.

At the same time, he telegraphed the personal and political value he placed on face-to-face meetings and public accolades from the world’s largest companies.

“EVERYONE WANTS TO BE MY FRIEND!!!” Trump wrote in his post on Thursday Truth Sociala self-managed social media app a technology company.

Many of those CEOs have already made or plan to visit Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Palm Beach, Fla., resort and de facto transit headquarters, as they seek to gain influence and access to the incoming administration.

Brendan Glavin, director of research at OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that deals with money in politics, said in an interview that Trump’s inaugural committee offers a “unique opportunity” for that purpose.

Establishment committees appointed by presidents-elect plan and fund much of the pomp and circumstance that traditionally surrounds the transition of power from one administration to another.

Even if the money ultimately benefits a political candidate, it’s not the same as donating to, say, a super PAC, which can fund controversial political activities.

Unlike a direct contribution to a candidate’s campaign, there is no limit on how much an individual or corporation or labor group can give to the inaugural committee.

Moreover, since Trump has already won the election, an inaugural contribution to a high-profile executive does not run the risk of supporting a losing candidate.

“This is a really great opportunity to curry favor with the incoming administration,” Glavin said.

While it’s nothing new for corporations and power brokers to pour big bucks into primary committees, experts told CNBC that the Trump factor has changed the calculus.

“Everything has grown now,” Glavin said. “None of these people want to be Trump’s punching bag for four years.”

Trump’s inaugural committee and his transition team did not respond to requests for comment.

In 2017, Trump’s caucus raised nearly $107 million, the most in US history. The previous record was set in 2009 during the first inauguration Barack Obamawhose committee collected 53 million dollars.

Trump’s second inauguration is on pace to break that record, with pledged contributions already surpassing the $150 million fundraising goal. This was reported by ABC News.

the president Joe Biden‘s opening committee, in comparison, almost raised 62 million dollars.

“One of the oldest adages in Washington is that if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu, and admission prices to sit at a table continue to rise,” said Michael Beckel, director of research. Number One, a political reform advocacy group.

Funding for Trump’s second inaugural committee comes in part from tech giants, many of whom balked at supporting his first inauguration.

In addition to GoDaddy.com founder Robert Parsons, who gave $1 million, several other leaders in Big Tech donated. Trump’s 2017 committee.

Trump once met with some of them, including Zuckerberg and BezosThe owner of The Washington Post newspaper, which is often angered by the president-elect.

Not so this time. As Trump vows to dismantle a number of federal regulations while continuing to accuse Big Tech of stifling competition, industry leaders may prioritize their relationship with the White House more than ever.

“I’m actually very optimistic” Bezos said about Trump’s second term in an interview at The New York Times’ DealBook conference on Dec. 4. “I’m very hopeful. He has a lot of energy to deregulate. And I think if I can help him do that, I’m going to help him. Because we have too much regulation in this country.”

The comments came after a scandal broke out at The Washington Post in October, when the paper reported on it Bezos decided not to publish the editorial board’s approval of the vice president Kamala Harris On Trump. Bezos is one op-ed defended the paper’s decision to no longer support presidential candidates, but the reverse spurred a subscriber exodus and caused numerous staffers to resign in protest.

Nowhere is Trump’s new friendship with the tech world more evident than in his blossoming relationship with the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. Elon MuskHe spent more than 250 million dollars for the election of Trump.

Musk, the world’s richest man, has often sided with Trump before and after winning the election, and is said to be involved in all aspects of Trump’s transition plan. He and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy were chosen to lead an advisory group tasked with cutting government spending.

This could put OpenAI’s Altman, which is currently in place mixed up a a claim for breach of contract It was brought in awkwardly by Musk.

Along with his first million-dollar donation, Altman praised Trump earlier this month. “President Trump will lead our country into the age of artificial intelligence, and I stand ready to support his efforts to ensure America stays ahead,” he said.

Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist for the progressive nonprofit Public Citizen, told CNBC that the numbers are “very fearful that Donald Trump might retaliate against them.”

“So they’re throwing money at his feet to curry favor,” Holman said.

Four days after the presidential election, Trump announced the creation of the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee, Inc., a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization. Its co-chairs are real estate investor Steve Witkoff and a former Republican senator. Kelly Loeffler Georgia, Trump’s pick to lead the Small Business Administration.

Reince Priebus, who was one of the chiefs of staff of the White House during the first term of Trump’s presidency, said at his press conference. Letter X he was elected as the financial chairman of the committee.

Priebus also shared a screenshot of the invitation listing the names of other finance chairs. They include spending GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson 100 million dollars this year About a pro-Trump super PAC and a billionaire Trump donor Diane Hendricks.

Inauguration committees are required to publicly disclose the names of donors who give $200 or more, but those documents are not provided until 90 days after the inauguration.

If the committee has a surplus after all the festivities, it can be difficult to find out how much money is left.

Trump’s 2017 inauguration was a smaller event than Obama’s in 2009, although Trump raised twice as much money for it as Obama. As a result, Trump’s committee was expected to be left with tens of millions of dollars after paying for balls and hotels.

But it happened years after the fact it is not clear what happened to most of this money.

About a quarter of all funds raised, $26 million, federal documents show newly established firm It was run by an adviser to First Lady Melania Trump.

“We look at the history of inauguration funding, and it’s clear that it comes from very large donors, wealthy special interests and corporations, almost all of which have business dealings with the federal government,” Public Citizen’s Holman said.

He added: “It’s a real pit for favors.”