Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was spotted entering Mar-a-Lago on the evening of December 18 to have dinner with President-elect Donald Trump.
Bezos, accompanied by his fiancée Lauren Sanchez, attended the dinner, marking their first meeting with Trump since the Republican candidate’s re-election victory.
Trump had mentioned last week that Bezos would be visiting him at his Florida estate. The tech billionaire is among several executives looking to build a relationship with Trump before his inauguration.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Bezos had also informed Trump’s team that he would contribute $1 million to the president-elect’s inaugural fund.
Although their relationship has been tense over the years, it seemed to improve recently after Bezos’s newspaper, The Washington Post, refrained from endorsing any candidate in the 2024 election, breaking its tradition of supporting Democrats.
Bezos expressed optimism about Trump’s second term in an interview at The New York Times DealBook Summit earlier this month. “I’m actually very optimistic this time around,” Bezos said, adding, “He seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation. If I can help do that, I’m going to help him.”
Trump also indicated he was eager to reconnect with business leaders ahead of his second term. “I want to get ideas from them,” Trump said after ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange last week, following his recognition as Time magazine’s “Person of the Year.” “Look, we want them to do well.”
Other tech leaders seeking collaboration with Trump include OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who plans to donate $1 million, and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, who met with the president-elect this week. Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has also pledged a donation to Trump’s inauguration. On November 27, Zuckerberg dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Elon Musk, another tech magnate, has been active in Trump’s re-election efforts, urging Republicans to reject a large spending bill that included many Democrat provisions.
Earlier this week, Trump boasted that “everybody wants to be my friend” after tech CEOs sought meetings with him.
