Uber and its CEO donate $1m each to Trump’s inaugural fund
Donation adds to list of tech companies and executives seeking to foster favorable relationship with president-elect
Anna Betts
Wed 18 Dec 2024 17.38 CET
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Uber and its CEO have donated $1m to Donald Trump’s inaugural fund, joining a growing list of tech companies and executives seeking to foster a favorable relationship with the incoming administration.
A spokesperson for Uber Technologies confirmed to the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that both Uber and its CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, each donated $1m to Trump’s fund. Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Guardian.
Uber previously donated $1m to President Biden’s inauguration in 2021 but Khosrowshahi did not donate to that event, according to the Wall Street Journal. The $1m donation to Trump’s fund, the newspaper states, is Khosrowshahi’s largest donation to a political candidate or inauguration fund.
The donations from Uber and Khosrowshahi add to a growing list of tech companies and executives who have donated or have said they intend to donate $1m to the president-elect’s inaugural fund.
Last week, Meta confirmed that it had donated $1m to the fund. OpenAI also confirmed that its CEO, Sam Altman, was planning to make a $1m personal donation to the fund. Amazon is also preparing a donation of $1m to Trump’s fund.
Uber and Khosrowshahi do not have the same historically tense relationship with Trump as companies and executives such as Mark Zuckerberg, Meta and Jeff Bezos, which is what made those donations particularly significant.
Notably, as the Journal points out, Uber’s chief legal officer, Tony West, is the brother-in-law of vice-president and former democratic nominee Kamala Harris. West took a leave of absence to volunteer for Harris’s presidential campaign. He has since returned to his position at Uber.
Donations to inaugural committees are not uncommon among large businesses aiming to establish better relationships with new administrations.
Amazon contributed $57,746 to Trump’s first inaugural fund in 2017, according to OpenSecrets. Other companies also made donations, including Google, which donated $285,000, and Microsoft, which donated $500,000. Meta confirmed to the Guardian that it did not make any contributions that year.
The donations from tech companies and tech executives in the last month come as the incoming administration is reportedly offering perks to the top donors to the president-elect’s inaugural fund. It’s also at the same time that Trump has been meeting and dining with several tech executives since winning the election.
In the last month or so, Trump has dined at his Mar-a-Lago estate with Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg; Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook; and Google’s Sundar Pichai and Sergey Brin; Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is slated to dine with Trump this week.
A bribe no matter what way you look at it.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/dec/18/uber-ceo-trump-donation
