Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai speaks at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEOs meeting in San Francisco on November 16, 2023.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Google donated a million dollars to the newly elected president Donald Trump’with inaugural fundhaving become the latest big tech company try to drum up some goodwill with the incoming administration.
“Google is pleased to support the 2025 inauguration, with a livestream on YouTube and a direct link on our homepage. We are also donating to the inaugural committee,” Karan Bhatia, Google’s global head of government affairs and public policy, told CNBC in a statement.
The company made its donation on Monday. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Target both announced donations of $1 million to the inaugural fund late last year and Amazon and Apple CEO Tim Cook also reportedly contributed.
After a candidate wins the US presidential election, they appoint an inaugural committee to organize and finance the inaugural events such as opening ceremonies, galas and parades. Unlike a direct contribution to a candidate’s campaign, there are no limits on how much an individual—or corporation or labor group—can give to an inaugural committee.
Google has donated to inaugurations in the past, and the live stream on YouTube and link to the inauguration on Google’s home page are consistent with previous inaugurations, the spokesperson said.
Trump has had a rocky relationship with the big tech companies for years and hasn’t shied away from criticizing the sector since the election. He signaled at the end of last year that he would not rule out the implementation of antitrust policy, which is a particularly sore point for Google.
US federal judge reigned in August that the company illegally held a monopoly in search and text advertising. Arguments in another antitrust case about Google advertising business closed in November, although the verdict has not yet been announced.
“Big Tech has run amok for years, stifling competition in our most innovative sector and, as we all know, using its market power to crush the rights of many Americans, as well as the rights of Little Tech!” Trump wrote in a Dec. 4 post on Social truth.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai and former Alphabet chairman Sergey Brin met with Trump after the election, and Pichai publicly congratulated the president-elect on his “decisive victory” in fast on X.
— CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report
