Scoop: Apple CEO Tim Cook donates $1 million to Trump inauguration
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Apple CEO Tim Cook and President Trump tour a Mac Pro assembly plant in Austin in 2019. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Apple CEO Tim Cook will personally donate $1 million to President-elect Trump's inaugural committee, sources with knowledge of the donation tell Axios.
Why it matters: The donation reflects a long, collaborative relationship between Trump and Cook that included many meetings during Trump's first term, and dinner at Mar-a-Lago last month.
- Other CEOs and companies have made seven-figure inauguration contributions in their efforts to build bridges to the incoming administration.
Between the lines: Cook, a proud Alabama native, believes the inauguration is a great American tradition, and is donating to the inauguration in the spirit of unity, the sources said. The company is not expected to give.
- Cook, with a consistent presence in Washington, has made it clear over the years that he believes in participation, not sitting on the sidelines, and engaging with policymakers from both sides of the aisle.
- Apple, a huge contributor to the U.S. economy, is the largest taxpayer in the U.S. and the world.
The backstory: A front-page story in The Wall Street Journal shortly after the election, headlined "How Tim Cook Cracked the Code on Working With Trump," noted that the Apple CEO spent years building personal rapport with Trump.
- Cook "developed a meeting strategy with Trump where he would bring one data point to home in on a single issue in a meeting," The Journal reported. "That approach helped keep the meetings from spiraling in too many directions."
Zoom in: A Trump financial disclosure form released just after he left office reported that Cook once gave the president a $5,999 Mac Pro computer made at an Austin factory the two toured in 2019.
- Cook also has met with Trump at Trump Tower and at his club in Bedminster, N.J.
- Axios is told Elon Musk joined part of the Mar-a-Lago dinner.
Zoom out: Other Silicon Valley inauguration donors include Amazon, Meta, Uber and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
- Wall Street's seven-figure donors include Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, while crypto exchanges Kraken and Coinbase are also getting in on the action.
- Toyota, Ford and GM are all also donating at least $1 million.
