Big Tech chiefs join Donald Trump in church and on inaugural stage


Cody Combs
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In a surreal moment, the leaders of what some might describe as the six families of Big Tech put aside their business rivalries and political differences to join President Donald Trump for a church service right before his inauguration.

Tesla co-founder Elon Musk, Meta head Mark Zuckerberg, Apple chief executive Tim Cook, TikTok chief Shou Zi Chew, Google's chief Sundar Pichai and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos all joined Mr Trump at St John’s Episcopal Church near the White House.

It was an interesting venue for all the technology entrepreneurs to be seen. Silicon Valley, the place that gave birth to the powerhouse technology companies, is known for being secular, so the religious backdrop was a juxtaposition for the ages and yet a validating moment for the entire industry. Many of the technology titans also appeared in the US Capitol building during Mr Trump's inauguration.

From left: Priscilla Chan, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Sanchez, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai and Tesla's Elon Musk at the inauguration. AFP
From left: Priscilla Chan, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Sanchez, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai and Tesla's Elon Musk at the inauguration. AFP

The appearance of TikTok's chief executive in Washington comes after more than a year of criticism from both Democrats and Republicans over the company's alleged connections to the Chinese Communist Party, which some say make it a threat to national security. For Mr Zuckerberg, his appearance at the Trump inauguration comes weeks after Meta controversially moved away from fact-checkers and months after the Facebook founder publicly criticised former US President Joe Biden.

For Tesla and X chief executive Mr Musk, the moment comes after an almost two-year journey during which the entrepreneur has increasingly espoused conservative positions.

As for Apple chief executive Mr Cook, during Mr Trump's first term in office, he reached out to employees to reassure them about the company's values. He later joined a White House panel during Mr Trump's first term on US job creation. This time around, several media reports indicated that Mr Cook personally donated to Mr Trump's inauguration funds.

Shou Zi Chew, chief executive of TikTok. EPA/Bloomberg
Shou Zi Chew, chief executive of TikTok. EPA/Bloomberg

Other companies, like Microsoft, Meta and OpenAI, also made donations. Meanwhile, for Amazon founder Mr Bezos, his newspaper The Washington Post is facing a backlash after it refused to endorse Kamala Harris, in a move critics said was to try to curry favour with Mr Trump.

For Silicon Valley, however, the presence of so many technology chief executives is sure to be viewed as a culmination of decades of work that came to fruition with unprecedented influence within a superpower, for better or worse.

“Technology companies must take a crash course in 'spoken Maga' [Make America Great Again],” said Sam Blatteis, chief executive of The Mena Catalysts, a market entry firm for Web3 multinationals, who spoke with The National before the inauguration about the influence of technology companies in Washington. “It is a special language – different than how they communicated with the Biden White House.”

“The rise of Trump means the power gap is closing in Washington, and the ideological gap is widening with many far-flung parts of the tech epicentres of power,” he said, referring to the many efforts from technology leaders to try to curry favour in Washington.

Yet as President Trump continues to try to fill government positions, Mr Blatteis said those same technology leaders may have to continue adjusting their approach. “As Trump appoints an armada of new policymakers to run key tech-related agencies, who is running them, and how much real influence they have, is hard to pin down. It’s about quietly having the right conversations to ensure the right context is being understood by the key people reporting on the issue.”

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Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.

Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.

Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.

Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.

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Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
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Ibrahim's play list

Completed an electrical diploma at the Adnoc Technical Institute

Works as a public relations officer with Adnoc

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His favourite composer is Johann Sebastian Bach

Also enjoys listening to Mozart

Likes all genres of music including Arabic music and jazz

Enjoys rock groups Scorpions and Metallica 

Other musicians he likes are Syrian-American pianist Malek Jandali and Lebanese oud player Rabih Abou Khalil

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Ms Davison came to Dubai from Kerala after her marriage in 1996 when she was 21-years-old

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Four motivational quotes from Alicia's Dubai talk

“The only thing we need is to know that we have faith. Faith and hope in our own dreams. The belief that, when we keep going we’re going to find our way. That’s all we got.”

“Sometimes we try so hard to keep things inside. We try so hard to pretend it’s not really bothering us. In some ways, that hurts us more. You don’t realise how dishonest you are with yourself sometimes, but I realised that if I spoke it, I could let it go.”

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“It’s time to stop holding back. It’s time to do it on your terms. It’s time to shine in the most unbelievable way. It’s time to let go of negativity and find your tribe, find those people that lift you up, because everybody else is just in your way.”

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Based: Dubai Multi Commodities Centre

Number of employees: seven

Sector: e-learning

Funding stage: Pre-seed funding of Dh1.5m in 2017 and an initial seed round of Dh2m in 2019

Investors: Friends and family 

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Updated: January 20, 2025, 9:04 PM