Google (GOOGL-0.79%) is the latest technology giant to officially make a major donation to the group planning President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, which is less than two weeks away.
The Mountain View, California-based company donated $1 million to the inaugural fund, according to CNBC, citing a statement from Karan Bhatia, Google’s global head of government affairs and public policy.
“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 the statement.
That matches similar monetary donations 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.
President Joe Biden’s 2020 inaugural committee raised a total of $61.8 million, while Trump’s 2016 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 because of the high demand and low supply, the New York Times reported. 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 Chief Business Officer 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.
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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