Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest individuals and longtime business rivals, dined with President-elect Donald Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort on Wednesday, December 18th.
Bezos, who has pledged to donate $1 million to President Trump’s inaugural committee through Amazon, attended the dinner as scheduled, but Musk unexpectedly joined him in the evening. The meeting is the latest in a string of high-profile technology executives to make the pilgrimage to Trump’s Florida mansion, including Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Sam Altman of OpenAI.
Bezos arrived at his Florida mansion with his fiancée Lauren Sanchez for their first dinner since Trump’s election victory. Video footage posted to They were seen walking side by side, holding hands.
The dinner came as both billionaires stand to benefit from their strong relationships with the government. Mr. Musk’s SpaceX currently has a $3.8 billion government contract, while Mr. Bezos’ Blue Origin recently secured NASA’s $3.4 billion contract for its lunar lander. Amazon Web Services also maintains a $10 billion contract with the National Security Agency.
Speaking at the New York Times’ recent Deal Book conference, Bezos expressed optimism about Trump’s return to the presidency, saying the president-elect is “calmer” than his predecessor. This marks a dramatic reversal from their previous rivalry, when Trump frequently criticized Bezos’ ownership of the Washington Post and Amazon’s business practices.
“In my first term, everyone was fighting me. This term, everyone wants to be my friend,” Trump said at a news conference Monday, highlighting the shift in power.
The dinner will precede a dinner between President Trump and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Mark Zuckerberg also met with Trump, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and TikTok CEO Hsu Zi Choo.
