After Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai And Jeff Bezos Head To Kiss Trump’s Ring

Two of the most influential tech leaders, Sundar Pichai and Jeff Bezos, are reportedly set to meet with President-elect Donald Trump, marking a new chapter in their previously strained relationships with the former president.

According to The Information, Google CEO Pichai is scheduled to travel to Palm Beach, Florida, this Thursday for a meeting, while Trump confirmed that Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, is scheduled to meet him next week.

Past Tensions

Google’s relationship with Trump has been marked by controversy, particularly over claims made by the former president that the search engine is “rigged” to suppress favorable coverage of him. However, recent reports suggest that Pichai’s upcoming visit won’t focus on these past grievances.

Contrasting this, Pichai has kept up a relationship with the president-elect throughout, even as Trump attacked his company vocally and has threatened to break up Google in pursuit of antitrust actions. Appearing last week at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit, Pichai clarified that all of his phone calls had nothing to do with an ongoing government investigation into his company’s business practices.

Sources told The Information that there’s little expectation of Pichai directly addressing the antitrust lawsuit or any other regulatory matters during his visit. Google has declined to comment on Pichai’s upcoming meeting, but the visit is seen as an effort to mend fences and potentially establish a more cooperative relationship with the incoming administration.

Bezos’ Optimistic Return To Trump’s Circle

Similarly, Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos, who had a rocky relationship with Trump throughout his presidency, is reportedly looking forward to turning over the page. In an interview with CNBC recently, Trump confirmed that Bezos would be meeting him soon, marking a shift in their contentious dynamic.

Though the previous periods saw heated exchanges between Trump and Bezos, especially over Amazon’s tax practices and Trump’s criticisms of the company’s operations, Bezos still expressed optimism about his upcoming meeting, signaling a desire to repair the strained relationship.

These steps by Bezos come weeks after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has apparently managed to mend fences. Zuckerberg had been threatened with imprisonment by Trump in the past; he dined with him at his Mar-a-Lago estate last November. Meta also contributed $1 million to the inauguration fund of Trump further indicating its efforts to calm past spats.

Trump Now Sees A Change

A strategy shift among major Silicon Valley CEOs appears to emerge in these tech giants meetings with Trump. Once against each other, these chiefs seem now to be adopting collaboration instead of confrontation toward the new president.

Since tensions continue between tech firms and regulators of the government, it is as though Pichai, Bezos, and Zuckerberg want to strengthen the relationship by showing they will make things favorable to the new administration.

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