Jeff Bezos
Phillip Faraone/VF24/Getty
The founder of Amazon, who has been embroiled in controversy this election, congratulated Trump in a post on X.
“Big congratulations to our 45th and now 47th President on an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory,” Bezos wrote. “No nation has bigger opportunities. Wishing @realDonaldtrump all success in leading and uniting the America we all love.”
Bezos didn’t endorse a candidate this election but did stoke massive controversy when he blocked The Washington Post, the newspaper he has owned since 2013, from endorsing Harris. In a column, Bezos defended his decision, saying it would create an illusion of bias for those who already don’t trust the media. After the Post announced its decision, multiple columnists quit, and tens of thousands of readers canceled their digital subscriptions.
“Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election,” Bezos wrote in an op-ed defending his decision. He added, “I wish we had made the change earlier than we did, in a moment further from the election and the emotions around it.”
The billionaire, worth $211 billion, insisted that his decision to block the endorsement was not a “quid pro quo” with Trump. He had met with the president-elect the same day of the announcement to talk about Blue Origin, his space exploration company. The company, like all private space companies, depends on federal contracts and competes with Elon Musk’s more dominant SpaceX for government projects.
Barry Diller, chairman of IAC and Expedia and one of Harris’ leading donors, called the newspaper’s decision a “blunder” on CNBC’s Squawk Box.
