Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has donated $1 million to the inaugural fund of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, the company has confirmed to CNN.
The donation follows a private dinner meeting between Zuckerberg and Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida two weeks ago, which was initially reported by The Wall Street Journal.
According to CNN, Zuckerberg is aiming for a more active role in shaping the technological policies of Trump’s incoming administration. This marks a significant shift from nearly four years ago when Meta (formerly Facebook) banned Trump from its platforms following the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Zuckerberg had gradually shown more openness toward Trump in the lead-up to the 2024 elections. During an interview last summer, the Facebook founder praised Trump’s response to an assassination attempt in July, calling it “extraordinary.”
“Seeing Donald Trump rise after being shot in the face and raise his fist with the American flag was one of the most extraordinary things I’ve ever seen in my life,” Zuckerberg said in an interview on The Circuit podcast at Meta’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California.
Top executives from some of America’s largest tech companies—such as Tim Cook from Apple, Sundar Pichai from Google, and Andy Jassy from Amazon—had also sought meetings with Trump before Election Day in November, hoping to secure a private audience with the presidential candidate during a highly competitive race.
Trump, for his part, appears to have embraced his warm relationship with tech giants. He has frequently praised his private conversations with them in interviews and public appearances. He now lauds companies that he once criticized, including those he blamed for his loss in the 2020 election, which led to years of Republican attacks on the tech industry.
As recently as March, Trump had called Facebook an “enemy of the people” in an interview with CNBC, causing Meta’s stock to drop by more than 4% on the day of the remark’s publication.
Trump had also previously threatened to jail “election fraudsters,” including Zuckerberg, whom he appeared to refer to in a July post on his Truth Social platform.
