The attendees at a U.S. presidential inauguration do not often resemble the annual gathering of the world's richest in Davos, Switzerland, which kicked off on Monday, but the parallels were hard to ignore as Donald Trump was sworn in as U.S. President.
Among those seated prominently were the three richest men in the world: Elon Musk, Amazon (AMZN.O) CEO Jeff Bezos, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, with a combined net worth of nearly $900 billion, according to Forbes.
To some, the presence of the world's wealthiest represents the apex of Trump's return to power in Washington after attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to Joseph Biden.
To others, it stands as a warning that the new administration's priorities in coming years will favor the most well-connected through tax, labor, trade and other policies. Ex-president Joseph Biden in his outgoing address warned of a growing oligarchy in the United States that endangers democracy.
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, noted the favorable seating for the tech CEOs at the inaugural - in front of Trump's Cabinet nominees.
Musk, who spent upwards of $250 million on Trump's re-election bid, after years ago suggesting he retire following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, is perhaps the most well-situated.
The Tesla (TSLA.O) CEO has been tabbed to lead a new panel to find ways to cut government spending, is expected to push for speedier regulatory approval for self-driving vehicles, and there are questions about what will happen to federal investigations into him and his companies with Trump in office.
"Some of the business people who have been cozying up to Trump represent companies that get a lot of government contracts or are worried about government regulation," said Darrell West, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Following Trump's November win over Vice President Kamala Harris, numerous CEOs quickly ingratiated themselves with Trump, particularly Zuckerberg.
Meta (META.O) announced it would suspend factchecking on its U.S. platform. Zuckerberg sat next to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at the exclusive inauguration luncheon on Monday, an event also attended by Bezos and Apple (AAPL.O) CEO Tim Cook, and the Meta CEO also hosted a pre-inaugural ball with other billionaire Republican donors on Monday.
Numerous other members of the Forbes list were in Washington as well, including LVMH (LVMH.PA) CEO Bernard Arnault and several family members, who rank fifth-richest worldwide; Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, who chatted up Trump during the luncheon, and Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in India.
The tie between business interests and U.S. policy was on display just before Trump took office in a frenzied few days for popular social media app TikTok.
U.S. legislators in 2024 voted by overwhelming margins to ban the app in the United States on national security concerns, only to watch Trump put the law on hold as he invited TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to the inauguration at the last minute.
Trump has floated the idea that the U.S. government could partially own TikTok, while some media outlets have reported that Beijing has discussed having Musk somehow take ownership of TikTok.
"You certainly see the obvious and overt involvement of the richest people in the world on his first day in office," said David Kass, executive director at the Americans for Tax Fairness.
