The CEOs have expressed support for President-elect Donald Trump.
Technology moguls Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Shou Zi Chew are set to attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX; Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta; Bezos, the owner of Amazon, The Washington Post, and Blue Origin; and Shou Zi Chew, TikTok’s CEO, will attend the inauguration, a source familiar with the event’s planning told The Epoch Times in an email.
The individuals will be seated on the dais at the event, the person said.
Reacting to a post on the social media platform X noting the development, Musk
wrote that he was “honored.”
Representatives for Bezos, Zuckerberg, and Chew did not return inquiries.
Other people planning to attend Trump’s inauguration,
slated to take place in Washington, include former President Barack Obama, President Joe Biden, and U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who will conduct the swearing-in ceremony.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama is among those who
will not be attending.
Amazon and Meta are two of the companies that have donated to Trump’s inauguration, each giving $1 million. Musk, who also owns social media platform X, spent more than $250 million to help elect Trump in 2024 and has been among his advisers as he prepares to reenter the White House.
The Washington Post ahead of the election
declined to offer an endorsement for either Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris, departing from its tradition. Bezos
said at the time that endorsements “create a perception of bias” and “non-independence” and that ending them was “a principled decision.”
TikTok is set to be banned in the United States on Jan. 19, although the U.S. Supreme Court may
intervene. A Trump adviser
said this week that Trump is exploring ways to “preserve” TikTok in America.
Meta recently
announced sweeping changes to its platforms, including the end of its fact-checking program and the introduction of social media platform X-style community notes on Facebook. Zuckerberg said that fact-checkers had become “too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they created, especially in the U.S.”
Zuckerberg, who had dinner with Trump after the Republican won the election,
said in a podcast interview released this week that Trump “just wants America to win.” Zuckerberg said he regrets complying with demands from President Joe Biden’s administration to censor content on COVID-19 and other subjects.
Biden and other Democrats have been critical of the tech CEOs. Biden
said that the move to end Meta’s fact-checking program was “really shameful” and “completely contrary to everything America is about.”
The disclosure that Musk plans to attend the inauguration came as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
sued him over his alleged failure to disclose his purchase of Twitter shares within the legally mandated timeline.
A lawyer for Musk told The Epoch Times that the lawsuit was a sham and Musk had done nothing wrong.
Tom Ozimek and Reuters contributed to this report.
