AI Oligarchs & Trump:
A 686,011% Return on Investment

Amazon donated one million dollars to the Trump inauguration,  at which Bezos had VIP seating.  Bezos's current worth is $253 billion, up from $194 billion in 2024, an increase of $59 billion, or 5,899,900%. If the $40 million Melania Trump is being paid for Amazon’s forthcoming documentary on her life story is included, this ROI shrinks to a mere 147,400%.[7]

Bezos owns 9.8% of Amazon stock, making him the largest individual shareholder, and he is chairman of Amazon’s Board of Directors. When Trump had a beef with Amazon over its reported plan to publish the impact of tariffs on its prices, it was Bezos he called – and sure enough the plan went away. [8]

Amazon Web Services is the largest cloud computing provider in the U.S., and Amazon is the largest investor in AI-related infrastructure, with more current plans to spend one hundred billion dollars. Current Amazon CEO, Andy Jassy proclaims that AI is “once-in-a-lifetime type of business opportunity.” [9] Amazon has announced $11 billion in AI infrastructure investments in Georgia [10], and $10 billion in NC. It plans to use nuclear power to fuel many of these projects, including its $20 billion investment in new data centers in Pennsylvania. [11]

Open AI donated the standard $1 million to the inauguration. 

Its CEO Sam Altman is a junior member of the AI billionaires’ club. Still, his personal net worth has more than doubled since 2024, from $1 billion to $2.1 billion, an ROI of 109,900%, and OpenAI’s valuation has rocketed from $157 to 500 billion – making it the most valuable privately held company in the world. [12]

In 2016 Altman described Trump “an unprecedented threat to America” [13] but following the 2024 election Altman shifted his stance, stating he thinks Trump “will be incredible for the country in many ways.” [14] He joined Trump in announcing the $500 billion Stargate AI infrastructure initiative [15], and has become a key adviser to Trump on AI policy. 

Altman has joined the other tech titans in emphasizing AI’s energy needs (he is personally invested in nuclear power) and praising Trump’s deregulatory policies: “I really deeply agree with the president on… how difficult it has become to build things in the United States… Power plants, data centers, any of that kind of stuff." [16] Not surprisingly, in July he resigned his membership of the Democratic Party.

Meta donated one million to the inauguration and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally hosted a gala for the incoming president. [17] Meta also ponied up $25 million to settle Trump’s lawsuit against Meta and Zuckerberg for purportedly violating his First Amendment rights by suspending his account for inciting the attack on the Capitol. [18] At the inauguration, Zuckerberg sat near to Trump. His net worth is $216 billion, up $39 billion from 2024. Including the legal settlement (to end a suit that most commentators regarded as baseless – because free speech rights apply only to government actions), his ROI is 387,400%. 

Although Meta is a publicly traded company, Zuckerberg owns the majority of voting shares and 13% of its common stock.

Zuckerberg has announced plans to “bring personal superintelligence to everyone” by for instance installing it on “Personal devices like glasses that … can see what we see, hear what we hear.” [19] Meta has plans to invest $65 billion in AI infrastructure in 2025, including a data center in Louisiana covering an area the size of much of Manhattan [20]. Much of the power for these data centers will come from new fossil fuel plants. [21] An existing data center in Georgia has been criticized for straining local water resources. [22]

Nvidia supplies most of the advanced chips that AI infrastructure depends on and its stock price has tracked the boom in AI investment.  It also donated a million to the inauguration. Its CEO Jensen Huang owns 3% of Nvidia’s stock. His net worth is $156 billion, which is up $89 billion  since 2024 amount), a rate of return of 8,899,900%.

Huang recently persuaded Trump to allow Nvidia to sell advanced chips to China, apparently contradicting the Trump administration’s security priorities. [23] He has also described Trump as “America's unique advantage that no country could possibly have” and heaped praise on his energy policies: “On the first day of his administration, he realised the importance of AI, and he realised the importance of energy. For the last I don't know how many years, energy production was vilified, if you guys remember.” [24] Returning the compliment, Trump calls Huang “a great guy.” [25]