President-elect Donald Trump dined at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Wednesday with Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, the world’s two richest men and longtime business rivals, who have cultivated relationships with the president. elected, according to two sources informed about the meeting.
Musk, who along with Trump was instrumental in thwarting a bipartisan spending deal that was intended to avoid a government shutdown over the holidays, was initially not expected at the dinner but joined it while it was already underway. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private dinner.
Musk, who is worth more than $450 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index, and Bezos, with a fortune of about $240 billion, are among a host of tech billionaires who have been gathering at Trump’s Florida estate. Musk was a crucial supporter of Trump’s presidential bid and is helping lead a government cost-cutting effort for him, while Bezos’ Amazon announced last week that it would donate $1 million to the committee responsible for planning Trump’s inauguration. Trump.
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Bezos, who founded both Amazon and Blue Origin and also owns The Washington Post, said at a New York Times DealBook conference this month that he was optimistic about Trump’s return to the White House and that he had seen signs of a President voted “calmer”.
Trump has enjoyed the support of those who once criticized him or kept him at a distance, now rushing to establish relationships with him. Trump attacked Bezos from 2016 to 2020, over everything from headlines in the Post to Amazon’s tax payments.
“In the first term, everyone was fighting with me,” Trump said at a press conference on Monday (16). “This term, everyone wants to be my friend.”
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Bezos has also clashed with Musk. His rocket company, Blue Origin, will compete in the coming years with Musk’s SpaceX for government contracts worth billions.
