CEOs hedge in case Trump returns
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
In meetings, on calls and in public moves, CEOs are steeling themselves and their companies for the possibility of four more years of former President Trump.
Why it matters: Trump is keeping a list of CEOs and corporations he believes have wronged him or backed his rivals. Business leaders wary of retribution have been reaching out and playing nice.
- “If you’re somebody who has endorsed Harris, and we’ve never heard from you at any point until after the election, you’ve got an uphill battle,” a Trump adviser told The Washington Post.
Between the lines: While some CEOs likely approve of Trump's tax-slashing policies, U.S. business leaders have drifted left overall over the past two decades.
- Just one CEO in the Fortune 100 has publicly endorsed Trump this cycle: Elon Musk.
- But while a few CEOs distanced themselves from Trump in the past over events like Charlottesville and Jan. 6, few seem prepared to start a potential second Trump presidency on bad terms.
Driving the news: In recent days, Trump has had phone calls with Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
- He also had a recent conversation with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, CNN reports. And he spoke with the executives of Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ space company, according to AP.
- Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke to Trump over the summer after he survived his first assassination attempt. The two have had a fractious relationship, but Zuckerberg described Trump's response to that attack as "badass."
Plus, Wall Street is betting on a Trump win.
- Hedge fund bosses are directing investments toward stocks that are expected to fare better in a Republican administration, like defense, oil and crypto, Politico reports.
Zoom in: Trump also hailed two big billionaire-owned newspapers’ decisions not to endorse a presidential candidate as stamps of approval for his campaign.
- Both the Bezos-owned Washington Post and the L.A. Times recently scrapped planned endorsements of Vice President Harris.
- L.A. Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, a billionaire biotech entrepreneur, told his newspaper he thought choosing one candidate would be divisive in a tumultuous election year.
Zoom out: CEOs often reach out to both candidates as a courtesy, "especially in the 12th hour," Jeffrey Sonnenfeld of the Yale School of Management tells Axios.
- The stakes are higher this time around, as Trump has demonstrated that he'll go after business leaders on his bad side.
- After he was elected in 2016, he lashed out at executives from media companies, Nordstrom and Amazon, among others. His tweets attacking Amazon — motivated in part by Bezos' ownership of the Post — caused its stock to tumble.
Reality check: Business leaders are calling Trump, but he's still seeing the lowest level of financial contributions from Corporate America in a century, Sonnenfeld says.
- "The Republican candidate has always enjoyed the public and financial support of about half of the Fortune 100, or the biggest companies of the time," Sonnenfeld says. "We’ve never had something like this, where it hit a wall in 2016 and never came back.
The bottom line: Even if CEOs of America's major corporations aren't fans of Trump, they don't want to be on his bad side if he wins back the White House.
