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 selection.
A supply within the know instructed The Submit that, whereas a number of 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 nearly 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 digicam laughing along with his space-race rival and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
The group, together with Pichai, have been positioned on the dais instantly behind Trump’s circle of relatives.
“For the primary time in my life, you’ve gotten a president and an incoming White Home who’re aligned with Silicon Valley,” Nick Bilton, creator of “Hatching Twitter,” instructed The Submit. “That’s why you’ve received Bezos and Sundar and Zuck there. They see this as a possibility to lastly work with the federal government. I feel we’re going to see extra tech developments within the subsequent 4 years than we have now seen within the final 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.
“Whereas they’re all opponents, they’re all considerably pals,” Bilton mentioned of the tech titans.
“I suppose the analogy can be a bunch of men get invited to a marriage and so they don’t actually know anybody else, so that they wind up on the identical desk,” he added of Bezos, Zuckerberg and Cook dinner sitting collectively within the church. “Plus, they’re all within the inexperienced room collectively at tech conferences the place they converse and so they all go to the identical billionaire dinners. So it is smart for them to be collectively.”
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 youngsters 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.
“All of them strike me as barely unlikely Trump supporters. However, you recognize, they’ve received to kiss the ring. And that is a part of it,” one supply instructed The Submit of the tech CEOs’ pride-of-place seating.
“It’s additionally about self-preservation. All of them want visas for educated employees and it looks like a superb alternative for placing in coverage that may assist expertise. They now have a possibility to take a seat on the desk. They wish to develop and succeed and purchase. So, they’re enjoying this recreation.”