Amazon founder Jeff Bezos who dined with Donald Trump Wednesday night has accepted Donald Trump’s invitation to his inauguration on January 20, 2025, Wall Street Journal reported. Bezos and his fiancee Lauren Sanchez joined Donald Trump and Melania Trump at the dinner. It was also joined by Bezos’s arch-rival Elon Musk and there was some tension though overall the dinner went well and even Musk said he had a great conversation with Bezos.
With a net worth of $177 billion, Jeff Bezos is the second richest man in the world only next to Elon Musk whose net worth is $219 billion.
First donation, then dinner
Jeff Bezos is trying to mend his ties with long-time foe Donald Trump as he is all set to take office. Bezos’s Amazon was planning to donate $1 million to Donald Trump’s inaugural fund. And thus Bezos joins the list of billionaires shelling out big bucks to the inaugural fund. Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, Sam Altman’s OpenAI are also planning to donate to the fund.
How Jeff Bezos changed his tune about Donald Trump
In 2016, Bezos said Trump’s wish to lock up Hillary Clinton or refuse to accept a loss in that election “erodes our democracy around the edges.” “One of the things that makes this country as amazing as it is, we are allowed to criticize and scrutinize our elected leaders,” Bezos said at the time.
But just ahead of the election, the Washington Post, which Bezos owns, decided to not endorse any presidential candidate breaking its traditions. According to insiders, the Washington Post had an endorsement ready for Kamala Harris and it was Bezos’ push that nixed the endorsement.
After Donald Trump’s re-election, Bezos changed his stance and said he was actually very optimistic about another Trump term.
“What I’ve seen so far is he is calmer than he was the first time and more settled,” he said. “You’ve probably grown in the last eight years. He has too.”
