“Everyone Wants To Be My Friend” – Trump Inauguration Hauls Record Amounts of Corporate Donations

The following table has the corporations that have donated to the Donald Trump inauguration. Their motives are laid out in the following table. The total raised is estimated around 250 million dollars. Some of the tendencies, like Amazon Prime streaming the event and Washington Post removing unflagging coverage of Trump, appear to be a way for Jeff Bezos to gain further control in media.

CompanyMarket Capitalization (USD)Potential Reasons for Government Favorability
Apple$3.46 trillionTrade policies, tax regulations, and antitrust scrutiny.
Chevron$290.18 billionEnvironmental regulations, drilling permits, and energy policies.
Citigroup$151.28 billionFinancial regulations, capital requirements, and international banking policies. Companies Market Cap
Bank of America$345.73 billionFinancial regulations, capital requirements, and consumer protection laws. Companies Market Cap
Goldman Sachs$190.20 billionFinancial regulations, securities laws, and investment banking policies. Companies Market Cap
Google$2.331 trillionAntitrust regulations, data privacy laws, and digital advertising policies. Wikipedia
Pfizer$151.24 billionDrug approval processes, patent laws, and healthcare regulations.
Microsoft$3.134 trillionAntitrust scrutiny, software licensing regulations, and cybersecurity policies. Wikipedia
All fields are retrieved from Yahoo or Google search as of January 17, 2025

Everyone in the technology industry must now kiss the ring because some of their sector members have toyed with Trump in their favor. Like in an arms race, they must all make inroads in every sense of the word, with lobbying efforts and quid-pro-quo arrangements.

Apple: CEO Tim Cook personally donated $1 million to the inaugural fund. 

Amazon: Contributed $1 million and will stream the ceremony on Amazon Prime, amounting to an in-kind donation.

Meta (formerly Facebook): CEO Mark Zuckerberg donated $1 million.

OpenAI: CEO Sam Altman made a personal donation of $1 million.

Uber Technologies: Along with CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, each donated $1 million.

Ford Motor Company and General Motors: Each donated $1 million and provided a fleet of vehicles for the inauguration.

Chevron: Donated $500,000.

Boeing: Contributed $1 million.

CitigroupBank of AmericaGoldman SachsGooglePfizer, and Microsoft: Also among the major corporate donors.