Amazon.com is preparing a $1 million contribution to President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fund, signaling efforts by founder Jeff Bezos to build rapport with the incoming administration. Bezos is expected to meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago next week.
The donation, conveyed to Trump’s team earlier this week, marks a shift in relations between Bezos and Trump, who have long feuded. Bezos, through Amazon, will also provide an in-kind contribution valued at $1 million by streaming the inauguration on Prime Video. In 2017, Amazon donated $58,000 to Trump’s inauguration, far less than other tech firms.
Bezos, who owns The Washington Post, has clashed with Trump over the paper’s coverage, prompting accusations from Trump that the Post acts as Amazon’s lobbyist. Trump also criticized Amazon’s tax practices and blamed Bezos for losing a $10 billion Pentagon cloud contract, which Amazon claims was improperly influenced by Trump’s animosity.
Amid competition for government contracts, Bezos’ Blue Origin faces rivalry from Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Musk, now a close Trump adviser, has donated over $200 million to Trump’s re-election efforts. Meanwhile, other tech leaders, such as Google’s Sundar Pichai and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, are also seeking to repair ties with Trump.
In a surprising shift, Bezos recently expressed optimism about a second Trump presidency, calling Trump’s post-election return an “extraordinary political comeback.” Critics argue Bezos’ softened stance, including a decision by The Washington Post to kill an editorial endorsing Kamala Harris, reflects concern over potential repercussions from a Trump administration.
