Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos to attend Donald Trump's inauguration: Report

Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg are set to attend President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on Monday, according to a report by NBC citing an official involved in the event's planning. The tech leaders will be prominently seated on the platform alongside other notable guests, including Trump's Cabinet nominees and elected officials.

On X, Musk expressed that he would be honoured on having such a prominent position at the inauguration. Over the past year, all three tech moguls have sought to gain favor with Trump, with Musk notably donating over a quarter-billion dollars in campaign funds to support Trump's election. As the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Musk has been a frequent presence alongside Trump since endorsing him in July. He is also the co-lead of a new Trump administration advisory body known as the Department of Government Efficiency.

Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, has recently reshuffled his lobbying team and content moderation policies to align with the incoming Republican administration. Meta contributed $1 million to the Trump inaugural fund. Additionally, Zuckerberg is co-hosting a black-tie reception on Monday with Republican megadonor Miriam Adelson to celebrate the inauguration, as reported by Puck News.

Bezos, the founder and executive chair of Amazon, decided last fall that The Washington Post, which he owns, would not endorse any candidate in the presidential race, despite differing opinions among the paper's opinion staff. Amazon also contributed $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg rank as the top three wealthiest individuals globally, with a combined net worth of $885 billion as of Monday.

Meta faces a possible antitrust trial in April over allegations from the Federal Trade Commission regarding its monopoly on personal social networks. Amazon, a major federal contractor through its cloud computing business, had conflicts with Trump during his first term. SpaceX, another major federal contractor, is involved in rocket launches and the Starlink internet service business.

Musk, Zuckerberg, and Bezos are often rivals within the tech industry, competing in areas such as artificial intelligence, space exploration, and media. Bezos is challenging Musk's dominance in rocket launches with his space company, Blue Origin, which recently called off its inaugural launch attempt. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg and Musk are both investing billions into new AI models and have been rivals in AI research for some time. In 2022, Musk entered the social media arena by acquiring X, formerly known as Twitter, adding to his rivalry with Zuckerberg.

Bezos and Zuckerberg also compete in the advertising and shopping sectors through their respective companies, Amazon and Meta.