Jeff Bezos, founder and executive chairman of Amazon and owner of the Washington Post, arrives at the New York Times’ annual DealBook Summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center on December 04, 2024 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
Amazon the creator Jeff Bezos he spoke optimistically about the candidate for president Donald Trump Wednesday at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit, saying he expects a friendlier regulatory environment under the next administration.
“I’m very optimistic this time,” Bezos said on stage. “He seems to have a lot of power to reduce regulation. If I can help him do that, I’ll help him.”
Bezos’ comments took a light-hearted tone even as Trump publicly bashed the billionaire during his first term. Trump has repeatedly attacked Bezos and his companies, Amazon and The Washington Post, accusing them of evading taxes or publishing “fake news,” among other things. Trump He also pointed repeatedly with his finger For using Amazon’s US Postal Service, claiming that the company contributed to the post office’s demise.
In 2019, Amazon accuse Trump’s “behind-the-scenes attacks” on the company over the loss of a multibillion-dollar Defense Department contract, then called JEDI.
The animosity between the two predates Trump’s time in the White House.
Before the 2016 election, Bezos criticized Trump’s behavior, saying it is “eroding our democracy.” The then-Republican candidate who offered to shoot Trump into space attacked Bezos for using the Post Office as a “tax shelter.”
But eight years ago during Trump’s first transition period, Bezos expressed an optimism similar to his current tone. Bezos He was one of the main leaders in technologytogether with the general managers the alphabet, the apple, Facebook and others who went to Trump Tower in December 2016 for a meeting with Trump. At the meeting, the two men appeared as nothing more than celebrities.
“I found my meeting today with the president-elect, his transition team, and technology leaders very productive,” Bezos said at the time. “I shared the view that the administration should make innovation one of its key pillars, which would create huge numbers of jobs across the country, in all sectors, not just technology — agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing — anywhere.”
Bezos struck a rather conciliatory tone with Trump ahead of this year’s election. He has published twice in X this year, congratulating the day after Trump’s victory last month and Trump’s praise following “grace under literal fire.” the attack At a Trump rally in Pennsylvania in July.
Bezos’ space company Blue Origin has frequently clashed with the Trump administration in its bid to secure federal contracts. Blue Origin competes directly Elon Musk’s SpaceX exploration company. Musk has been a key ally of Trump’s campaign for the White House, contributing nearly $75 million to America PAC, the super-Trump political action committee he founded this year.
