Google joins Amazon, Meta, Tim Cook, and more in donating to Trump’s inauguration

January 9, 2025

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Google (GOOGL-0.79%) and Microsoft (MSFT+0.52%) are the latest technology giants to officially make a major donation to the group planning President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, which is less than two weeks away.

Mountain View, California-based Google donated $1 million to the inaugural fund, according to Karan Bhatia, a former Bush administration senior official and Google’s current policy head. Google has donated to past inaugurals as well, according to a company spokesperson. CNBC first reported the donation.

“Google is pleased to support the 2025 inauguration with a livestream on YouTube and a direct link on our homepage. We’re also donating to the inaugural committee,” Bhatia said in a statement to Quartz on Thursday.

As for Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, a company spokesperson confirmed it is also donating $1 million to the inauguration. Microsoft previously donated $500,000 to Trump’s 2017 inauguration fund and President Joe Biden’s 2021 committee.

The new donations match similar monetary gifts from Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms (META-1.16%), Jeff Bezos’ Amazon (AMZN+0.01%), and many others, including artificial intelligence startup Perplexity. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Apple (AAPL+0.20%) CEO Tim Cook have made personal donations of $1 million.

Amazon says it’s also providing a $1 million in-kind contribution by streaming the Jan. 20 event on Amazon Video. A representative for Google did not immediately respond when asked whether Google similarly considers its livestream as an in-kind donation.

Although it’s not uncommon for major corporations to donate to inaugural committees, Trump has already set a new record.

Biden’s 2021 inaugural committee raised a total of $61.8 million, while Trump’s 2017 committee raised $106.8 million, according to regulatory filings. The Trump-Vance inaugural committee has raised a record $170 million, according to the Associated Press.

The haul is so large that some seven-figure donors won’t receive VIP tickets or other perks for the inauguration due to the reportedly high demand, per the New York Times. It’s another sign of how major companies see such opportunities as a way to curry favor with the president-elect, especially for those who got on his bad side during his first term in office.

“Unlike other tech companies who have recently donated to President Trump’s inaugural fund, Perplexity didn’t exist during his previous term, so this is an opportunity for us to collaborate on shared goals rather than mending a frayed relationship,” Perplexity executive Dmitry Shevelenko said in a statement last month.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai expressed excitement to work on a “Manhattan Project” for artificial intelligence ahead of a meeting with Trump in December, while Bezos joined Trump and Tesla (TSLA+0.15%) CEO Elon Musk for dinner later that month. The Manhattan Project was a World War II-era program to develop nuclear weapons.

Earlier this week, Zuckerberg made a series of decisions designed to appeal to Trump and his allies, including adding Ultimate Fighting Championship (EDR-1.01%) CEO Dana White to Meta’s board and ending the company’s longstanding practice of hiring independent fact-checkers.

 

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