Why do business leaders spend so much?

Top CEOs and their companies pledge to donate millions of dollars to the president-elect Donald TrumpInaugural Committee, as they seek to get on his good side and make progress before he takes office.

Some of Planned donations It is said Includes $1 million each Jeff Bezos' AmazonAnd OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Facebook's parent company deadled by Mark Zuckerberg. Others include $2 million from Robinhood Markets And a million dollars each Uber and its CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi.

Ford He is It is said Pairing its own donation of $1 million with a fleet of vehicles.

Hedge fund manager Ken Griffin He also said he plans to give $1 million to the inaugural committee, tax-exempt. Bloomberg reported. Other donations are reported from financial leaders In business.

Thanks to his decisive electoral victory, Trump has pledged to revamp US economic policy in a way that could lead to huge benefits for a few favored industries, such as fossil fuels.

At the same time, he expressed the value, both personal and political, he placed on face-to-face meetings and public praise from the CEOs of the world's largest companies.

“Everyone wants to be my friend!!!” Trump wrote on Thursday in a post dated Social truththe social media app he runs himself Technology company.

Many of these CEOs have already made, or plan to make, trips to Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Palm Beach, Fla., resort and the de facto transition headquarters, as they seek to gain influence and access to the incoming administration.

To that end, Trump's inauguration committee presents a “unique opportunity,” Brendan Glavin, research director at the money-in-politics nonprofit OpenSecrets, said in an interview.

Inaugural committees, appointed by elected presidents, plan and finance most of the pomp and circumstance that traditionally surrounds the transfer of power from one administration to another.

While the money ultimately benefits a modern political candidate, it does not carry the same connotation as donating to a super PAC, for example, which can fund partisan political activities that risk generating controversy.

Unlike a direct contribution to a candidate's campaign, there are no limits to the amount an individual — or a company or labor group — can give to the inaugural committee.

Moreover, since Trump already won the election, an inaugural contribution carries no risk for a high-profile executive to support a losing candidate.

“It's really a great opportunity for them to curry favor with the incoming administration,” Glavin said.

While it's nothing new for corporations and power brokers to spend big on inaugural committees, experts told CNBC that the Trump factor changes the calculus.

“Everything is reinforced now,” Glavin said. “None of these people, they don't want to be Trump's punching bag for four years.”

Trump's inauguration committee and his transition team did not respond to requests for comment.

Trump's 2017 inauguration committee raised approximately $107 million, the largest amount in US history. The previous record was set in 2009 during the first opening of Barack Obamawhose committee It raised $53 million.

Trump's second inauguration is on pace to break this record, with pledged contributions already exceeding the fundraising goal of $150 million. ABC News reported.

president Joe BidenBy comparison, the inaugural committee raised approx 62 million dollars.

“One of the oldest sayings in Washington is that if you're not at the table, you're on the list, and the price of admission for a seat at the table just keeps going up,” said Michael Bickel, research director at the Washington Research Institute. Issue 1, an advocacy group for political reform.

The increase in funding for Trump's second inauguration comes in part from tech giants, many of which have largely stayed away from supporting his first inauguration.

Other than GoDaddy.com founder Robert Parsons, who donated $1 million, few other leaders at major tech companies have donated to 2017 Trump Committee.

At one point, Trump publicly clashed with some of them, including Zuckerberg and… BezosHe also owns the Washington Post, a frequent target of the president-elect's wrath.

Not so this time. As Trump vows to tear up a raft of federal regulations, but also continues to accuse Big Tech of stifling competition, it's possible that industry leaders will have more influence over their relationship with the White House than ever before.

“Actually, I'm very optimistic.” Bezos said of Trump's second presidency in a December 4 interview at the New York Times' DealBook conference. “I'm very optimistic. He seems to have a lot of energy about reducing regulation. And from my perspective, if I can help him do that, I will help him. Because we have a lot of regulation in this country.”

These comments came in the wake of a scandal in the Washington Post last October, when the newspaper reported this Bezos decided Not publishing the editorial board’s support for the Vice President Kamala Harris On Trump. Bezos in Editorial The newspaper defended its decision to no longer endorse presidential candidates, but the reversal led to a mass exodus of subscribers and prompted several employees to quit in protest.

Nowhere is Trump's newfound friendliness with the tech world more evident than in his blossoming relationship with the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. Elon Muskwho spent more than $250 million to help elect Trump.

Musk, the world's richest person, has appeared frequently at Trump's side before and after his election victory, and is said to have been involved in all aspects of Trump's transition planning. He and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy were appointed to lead a consulting group tasked with cutting government costs.

This could put Altman of OpenAI, which is currently in place involved In a Breach of contract claim Musk brought him into an awkward position.

Along with his $1 million inaugural donation, Altman praised Trump earlier this month. He said: “President Trump will lead our country into the age of artificial intelligence, and I am eager to support his efforts to ensure America stays ahead of the curve.”

These figures are “deeply afraid that Donald Trump will retaliate against them,” Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist for the progressive nonprofit Public Citizen, told CNBC.

“So they throw money ‘at his feet’ in order to curry favor with him,” Holman said.

Four days after the presidential election, Trump announced the formation of the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee, a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization. It is co-chaired by real estate investor Steve Witkoff and former Republican senator. Kelly Loeffler From Georgia, he is also Trump's pick to lead the Small Business Administration.

Reince Priebus, who was a senior White House staffer under Trump during his first term, said in press statements: Share X He has been appointed to serve as Chief Financial Officer of the Committee.

Priebus also shared a screenshot of an invitation that included the names of other finance chairs. Among them is Miriam Adelson, a major GOP donor who spent $100 million this year On the pro-Trump super PAC and the billionaire Trump donor Diane Hendricks.

Inaugural committees are required to publicly disclose the names of donors who give $200 or more, but those deposits are not due until 90 days after the inaugural event.

If the committee has a surplus after all the celebrations, knowing how much is left can be a challenge.

Trump's inauguration in 2017 was smaller than Obama's inauguration in 2009, even though Trump raised more than twice as much money as Obama. As a result, the Trump committee was widely expected to have tens of millions of dollars left over from paying for parties and hotels.

But years after the fact, that was the case It is unclear what happened To a lot of that money.

Federal filings show that nearly a quarter of all money raised, $26 million, was paid to… Newly created company Which was run by First Lady Melania Trump's advisor.

“We've taken a look at the history of funding for inaugurations, and it's clear that it comes from very large donors, wealthy special interests and corporations, almost all of whom have business pending before the federal government,” Public Citizen's Holman said.

He added: “This is a real cesspool for purchasing services.”