Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly contributed $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fund.
The move comes as Zuckerberg has sought to strengthen his relationship with Trump over the years as the Republican emphasized his plan to focus on business and the economy upon returning to the White House.
Zuckerberg’s efforts to strengthen ties with the Republican leader included a November dinner with Trump on the patio of his private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., that focused on general relationship-building.
Zuckerberg’s team told the inaugural fund before the dinner that Meta planned to donate, one of the people told the Wall Street Journal.
Federal campaign finance reports show Zuckerberg has supported congressional candidates in both parties over the years and has largely stayed out of presidential races.
Neither Zuckerberg nor Meta donated to Trump’s inaugural fund in 2017 or to President Biden’s fund in 2021, according to public records. Both of those funds drew in $1 million in donations from fewer than a dozen major corporations, including many of the same companies.
The Zuckerberg-Trump relationship has shifted back and forth over the years. In January 2017, FWD.us, a lobbying group founded by Zuckerberg and other tech leaders supporting immigration reform, contributed $5,000 to Trump’s transition, according to public records. Weeks later, Zuckerberg criticized Trump’s executive orders around immigration, writing in a Facebook post: “Like many of you, I’m concerned about the impact of the recent executive orders signed by President Trump.”
After Trump supporters invaded the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Facebook suspended Trump from posting, as did several other social-media platforms. Following that, Trump issued a statement saying: “Next time I’m in the White House there will be no more dinners, at his request, with Mark Zuckerberg and his wife. It will be all business!”
After Trump’s election victory in November, Zuckerberg congratulated Trump in a social-media post and said he was looking forward to working with the president-elect.
