Several US tech billionaires, including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos, were allocated prime seats at US president Donald Trump's inauguration on Monday, in a display of their influence in the new administration and the White House.
Despite highly limited seating after the ceremony moved indoors due to bad weather, Meta CEO Zuckerberg attended with his wife Priscilla Chan, while Amazon executive Bezos was accompanied by his fiancée, Lauren Sanchez. Their seats on the stage were more visible than many cabinet members, which showed Trump's trust on technology entrepreneurs.
Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sunder Pichai, Google founder Sergey Brin also attended the mega event.
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TikTok CEO Shou Chew also sat in the back row of the stage. His company is facing a bleak future in the US as the country's court ratified a ban on its operation.
However, Trump has dropped hints that he might find a solution to TikTok's predicament. TikTok on Sunday credited Trump for promising an executive order to save the app from a US ban.
{{/usCountry}}However, Trump has dropped hints that he might find a solution to TikTok's predicament. TikTok on Sunday credited Trump for promising an executive order to save the app from a US ban.
{{/usCountry}}Zuckerberg's presence beside Donald Trump is also notable because he recently announced the closure of Meta's fact-check unit in the United States. Outgoing US president Joe Biden had slammed the move.
Elon Musk has emerged as the strongest non-political ally of Trump as he openly backed his claim to the top post. He also contributed $277 million to the president's campaign and transformed his X as a campaign platform for Trump.
Bezos, like Zuckerberg and his peers, has visited Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida leading up to the inauguration, with favorable treatment, government contracts and reduced regulatory scrutiny for Amazon in the balance.
As owner of The Washington Post, Bezos sparked controversy by blocking the newspaper's planned endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris for the 2024 presidential election, triggering newsroom protests and subscriber cancellations, reported AFP.
Musk has been appointed to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency to advise the White House on cutbacks to public spending and has spent much of the past two months at Mar-a-Lago.
After taking his oath of office, Donald Trump reaffirmed his "America first" policy and promised to end what he called the "vicious, violent and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department".
With inputs from AFP, AP