ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
The tech industry is courting President-elect Donald Trump. Today, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son pledged a $100 billion investment in the U.S. over the next four years. He and Trump appeared together at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Other tech moguls have made trips there, too. Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Sam Altman all donated to Trump's inaugural fund. To help us understand what the tech executives might want in return, we're joined by NPR's Bobby Allyn. Hi there.
BOBBY ALLYN, BYLINE: Hey, Ari.
SHAPIRO: Let's start with today's news. The chief executive of Japan-based SoftBank stood next to Trump and announced this $100 billion investment. What more can you tell us about him?
ALLYN: Yeah, Masayoshi Son, he's known as Masa. He runs SoftBank, which is a very influential investor in the tech world. And like you mentioned, standing alongside President-elect Donald Trump, Son said the $100 billion pledge to invest in artificial intelligence businesses and other ventures was, according to him, an indication of how confident he feels about Trump's economic policies.
But pretty immediately, Ari, there were skeptics and questions, right? Bloomberg pointed out that SoftBank has just about $25 billion in cash on its balance sheet - well short of the pledge. Now, SoftBank does have holdings in tech companies that far exceed the pledge amount, but how exactly Son would find the additional capital for the $100 billion is unknown. But the important thing here is that he is the latest tech mogul - as you mentioned, Ari - to make a really big splash with his support for President-elect Donald Trump.
SHAPIRO: What are some of the others doing?
ALLYN: Yeah, many of them are writing checks for Trump's inaugural fund, which is kind of the slush fund that pays for the swearing-in ceremony, inaugural balls, parties, dinners and the like. So far, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's CEO, Jeff Bezos have each pledged a million dollars - Altman on behalf of himself and the others on behalf of their companies. Now, tech executives have donated to inaugural funds in the past, but what is really different this time is that the companies are trying to draw a lot of attention to the donations with public statements. Whereas, before, Ari, it was just happening kind of quietly behind closed doors.
SHAPIRO: Why are they being more public this time?
ALLYN: Yeah, well, it appears like an attempt to give the donations more prominence, perhaps with the hope of getting Trump's attention. That's what Margaret O'Mara thinks, at least. She's a Silicon Valley historian at the University of Washington, and she told me tech companies making a big deal about the inaugural donations is something new. And she says it's motivated primarily by two things, right? First, trying to repair relationships with Trump. Remember, many of these CEOs - including Zuckerberg - have sparred with Trump over the years, and they don't want to be in the administration's cross hairs this time around. Secondly, O'Mara says currying favor with Trump could just mean fewer regulations.
MARGARET O'MARA: The opportunity to get the regulatory threat off of their backs and go back to being able to self-regulate, which is something that the internet industry generally has been enjoying by-and-large since the 1990s - it's how these companies got so big.
ALLYN: Yeah, and she says tech company shareholders are hoping for fewer rules and regulations as well because that could, of course, translate into greater profits.
SHAPIRO: Right. Then there's the billionaire with Trump's ear - Elon Musk. How do the other tech execs see him?
ALLYN: Yeah. Some see Musk, you know, of course, another tech billionaire, as an ally - a potential line into the White House. Others aren't so sure. Musk runs six companies of his own, and Trump has tapped him to do, you know, these massive federal spending cuts. And the question really is, will Musk push the government to make changes that benefit the entire tech industry, or will Musk push policies that are just tailored to give his own companies, like Tesla and SpaceX, a boost? So definitely some mixed opinions about how Musk might just play into tech policy under Trump.
SHAPIRO: NPR's Bobby Allyn. Thank you.
ALLYN: Thanks, Ari. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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