Here are the Big Tech CEOs attending Trump's inauguration

The CEOs of several of the world’s biggest technology companies are planning to attend President-elect Trump’s inauguration Monday.

The leaders of Amazon, Google, Meta, Tesla, TikTok and OpenAI are all set to appear at the Capitol to watch as Trump is sworn in for a second time, amid an apparent push by the tech industry to mend fences with the president-elect.

Here’s who’s planning to attend:

Elon Musk

Musk, who has become a close ally of Trump since pouring a quarter of a billion dollars into boosting his campaign last year, is set to attend the swearing-in ceremony Monday, according to a source familiar.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said Tuesday he was “honored” on his social platform X, in response to a post saying he would be seated alongside Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the inauguration.

The tech billionaire has taken on an increasingly prominent role at Trump’s side. He is set to co-chair a brand-new cost-cutting panel known as the “Department of Government Efficiency” with tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

However, Musk has also gained political clout of his own in recent months, leading the charge to kill a bipartisan funding deal at the end of last year. He has also begun to weigh in on foreign politics, backing far-right parties in the United Kingdom and Germany.

Jeff Bezos

Bezos will also attend Trump’s inauguration, a source familiar told The Hill. The former Amazon CEO, who bought The Washington Post in 2013, often feuded with Trump during his first administration due to his ownership of the outlet.

Amazon sued after it lost a $10 billion Defense Department contract to Microsoft in 2019. The e-commerce giant argued that Trump’s disdain for Bezos, who he at one point nicknamed “Jeff Bozo,” had affected the bidding process.

Bezos also feuded with Musk on social media in the weeks after the election, when the Tesla CEO accused the Amazon founder telling people Trump would “lose for sure” and advising them to sell their stock in Musk’s companies.

The two often have clashed over their competing space companies. Bezos owns Blue Origin, which has struggled to keep up with Musk’s SpaceX. Bezos said Sunday that he was “very optimistic” about Trump’s space policy and was not concerned about Musk’s closeness to the president-elect.

Mark Zuckerberg

Zuckerberg will be in attendance at Monday’s swearing-in ceremony as well, according to a source familiar.

The Meta CEO has frequently faced Trump’s wrath in recent years, after Facebook banned the former president in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Meta is the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Threads.

However, Zuckerberg has earned the president-elect's praise in recent months as he has sought to extricate himself and his platforms from politics and sided with conservatives in debates over content moderation and censorship.

Last week, the Meta CEO announced a major overhaul of his company’s content moderation practices, including the elimination of its third-party fact checking program. Trump touted the social media giant, saying it had “come a long way.”

Shou Zi Chew

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will also attend Trump’s inauguration, a source familiar told The Hill. His appearance comes as the fate of his popular video-sharing platform hangs in the balance.

A law requiring TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance to divest from the app or face a ban from U.S. networks and app stores is set to go into effect Sunday, unless the Supreme Court or the Biden administration intervenes.

Trump has vowed to “save” the platform. He filed a friend-of-the-court brief late last month, urging the Supreme Court to put the law on hold so he can negotiate a deal once in office.

However, the justices, which heard oral arguments in the TikTok case Friday, appeared skeptical of the platform’s First Amendment defense.

Sundar Pichai

Google CEO Sundar Pichai will join his fellow tech leaders at the Capitol for Monday’s ceremony, according to a person familiar.

Google became one of the latest companies to donate $1 million to Trump’s inauguration last week, following similar contributions from Amazon, Meta and Microsoft.

The search giant has not been a frequent target of Trump, compared to other tech firms of similar standing. However, in September, the former president threatened to prosecute Google, accusing the company of manipulating search results to hurt his campaign.

Sam Altman

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also plans to attend Trump’s inauguration, a company spokesperson confirmed to The Hill.

Altman has had a rocky relationship with Musk in recent years, a precarious position given the Tesla CEO’s close relationship with Trump. Musk helped found OpenAI in 2015, before leaving the artificial intelligence (AI) company in 2018.

The billionaire sued Altman and fellow co-founder Greg Brockman last year, accusing them of manipulating him into supporting the AI startup by promising to create safe and transparent AI. Musk argues OpenAI has since deviated from this founding mission.

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