Meta Makes $1 Million Dollar Donation to Donald Trump’s Inaugural Fund
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also reportedly gave Trump a pair of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
Key Takeaways
- Meta donated $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fund.
- Meta did not make a donation for the last two inaugurations.
- The move arrives two weeks after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Meta is working to build a good relationship with President-elect Donald Trump and made a sizable donation to prove it.
Meta on Wednesday that it has donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund. The donation is new ground for Meta; according to , the company did not make a similar donation before President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021 or for Trump’s in 2017.
The inauguration fund is used for expenses that arise when a new president assumes office. Corporations are typically the largest donors to these funds, with Federal Election Commission records that Microsoft gave $500,000 each to Trump in 2017 and Biden in 2021, while Google donated $285,000 each.
Related: ‘A Comeback of Historic Proportions’: Here’s Why Donald Trump Is Time’s 2024 Person of the Year
Meta’s million-dollar donation arrives two weeks after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
According to , before the dinner, Zuckerberg demonstrated what the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses could do before giving the President-elect a pair as a gift. The can answer calls, take pictures, and send texts; Zuckerberg said that they have become a “bigger hit sooner than we expected.”
Reports emerged last week that Zuckerberg is interested in helping shape tech policies with the Trump administration. Meta’s President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg that Zuckerberg is interested in taking an active part in debates about maintaining America’s tech leadership.
Despite the recent dinner and donation, the relationship between Trump and Zuckerberg has been contentious. Meta suspended Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in 2021 following what the company was “his praise for people engaged in violence at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
Meta his accounts in 2023, but the relationship between Trump and Zuckerberg had grown more tense. Trump accused Zuckerberg of cheating on the elections and wrote in a February : “Why isn’t he being prosecuted?”
In Truth Social post from July, Trump called out “Zuckerbucks,” his nickname for Zuckerberg, and cautioned him to “be careful!”
In his “Save America,” which came out on September 3, Trump wrote if Zuckerberg did “anything illegal” in the 2024 presidential election, he would go to prison.
In recent months, the relationship between the two has been more cordial with Zuckerberg calling Trump in August to apologize over an incorrectly labeled picture and on his victory in November.
Zuckerberg is currently the third richest person in the world with a net worth of $224 billion, per the .
Related: Internal Strife Rages At Facebook Over Zuckerberg’s Response to Trump
Key Takeaways
- Meta donated $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fund.
- Meta did not make a donation for the last two inaugurations.
- The move arrives two weeks after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Meta is working to build a good relationship with President-elect Donald Trump and made a sizable donation to prove it.
Meta on Wednesday that it has donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund. The donation is new ground for Meta; according to , the company did not make a similar donation before President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021 or for Trump’s in 2017.
The inauguration fund is used for expenses that arise when a new president assumes office. Corporations are typically the largest donors to these funds, with Federal Election Commission records that Microsoft gave $500,000 each to Trump in 2017 and Biden in 2021, while Google donated $285,000 each.
