When tech titans Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai and Tim Cook dinner frolicked collectively at a pre-inauguration church service in Washington, DC, Monday morning it was apparently by alternative.
A supply within the know instructed The Publish that, whereas just a few seats at Monday morning’s service at St. John’s Church have been reserved for President Donald Trump’s household and members of his employees, others weren’t assigned.
Meta CEO Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Bezos, Google CEO Pichai and Apple head Tim Cook dinner have been photographed collectively virtually in an ideal row.
Afterward, Zuckerberg and spouse Priscilla Chan have been noticed chatting with Bezos and his fiancée, Lauren Sanchez, as all of them headed into the Capitol Rotunda for Trump’s swearing-in. Inside, Bezos — whose Blue Origin had its first profitable launch of the New Glenn rocket final week— was seen on digital camera laughing along with his space-race rival and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
The group, together with Pichai, have been positioned on the dais straight behind Trump’s circle of relatives.
“For the first time in my life, you have a president and an incoming White House who are aligned with Silicon Valley,” Nick Bilton, writer of “Hatching Twitter,” instructed The Publish. “That’s why you’ve got Bezos and Sundar and Zuck there. They see this as an opportunity to finally work with the government. I think we’re going to see more tech advancements in the next four years than we have seen in the last 40 years.”
Notably, cameras didn’t catch any dialog between Musk and Zuckerberg, who as soon as threatened to face off in opposition to one another in a cage match.
“While they are all competitors, they are all somewhat friends,” Bilton mentioned of the tech titans.
“I guess the analogy would be a bunch of guys get invited to a wedding and they don’t really know anyone else, so they wind up at the same table,” he added of Bezos, Zuckerberg and Cook dinner sitting collectively within the church. “Plus, they’re all in the green room together at tech conferences where they speak and they all go to the same billionaire dinners. So it makes sense for them to be together.”
Open AI’s Sam Altman and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew have been additionally on the swearing-in, the place Zuckerberg, Bezos, Pechai and Musk had prime seats: proper behind Trump’s kids and in entrance of Protection Division nominee Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who Trump has tapped for secretary of the Division of Well being and Human Companies.
“They all strike me as slightly unlikely Trump supporters. But, you know, they’ve got to kiss the ring. And this is part of it,” one supply instructed The Publish of the tech CEOs’ pride-of-place seating.
“It’s also about self-preservation. They all need visas for educated workers and it seems like a good opportunity for putting in policy that can help technology. They now have an opportunity to sit at the table. They want to expand and succeed and acquire. So, they are playing this game.”
