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Wealthiest individuals attended Trump's inauguration

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Tech giants Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg seated prominently

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Concerns new Trump administration may favor wealthy

WASHINGTON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - 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.

The globe's wealthiest individuals attended Trump's

inauguration in Washington on Monday and the glamorous balls to

celebrate with the new president afterwards.

Among those seated prominently were the three richest men in

the world: Elon Musk, Amazon ( AMZN ) 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 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 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 ) 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 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.