President-Elect Trump has invited technology industry leaders to a roundtable next week in New York. The invitation for the Dec. 14th summit was sent by Trump's Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, and Transition Team Adviser Peter Thiel. Among the CEOs who will attend the meeting is Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins.
The tech industry, which bet heavily on Hillary Clinton in the months leading up to the Presidential Election, is looking to build bridges to the incoming Administration.
The stakes are high after the industry-wide snubbing of the President-Elect, who engaged in tweaking Apple and Amazon on his Twitter account.
Trump last week announced the formation of a Business Council Chaired by Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of investment firm Blackstone Group and comprised of the Leaders of major U.S. corporations including GE, GM and Boeing.
Noticeably absent were the Chief Executives of Apple, Facebook, and Google. The only representative from tech was IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, who is not from Silicon Valley. Last month Rometty published an open letter to Trump, offering support for some of Trump's policies.
Trump’s remarks on tech, his opposition to net neutrality and hard stance on immigration, have alarmed Tech Executives, but they also see a new opportunity to push a tech-friendly agenda. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff congratulated Trump on Twitter and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella posted his congratulations on LinkedIn. Apple CEO Tim Cook called Trump to congratulate him.
"Most of Silicon Valley is moving from the 'surprised and in denial' phase to accepting the change that's coming," said Semil Shah, General Partner at venture capital firm Haystack Fund in Menlo Park, Calif. "Some of that change, such as immigration, creates anxiety and uncertainty. Some of that change, such as potential for economic stimulus at a national level, gives some folks business confidence.”
Tech has a Trump emissary in Thiel, the billionaire investor who is advising the Trump transition team. He was a delegate for Trump and spoke at the Republican National Convention.
Thiel has not taken a formal role during the transition but has spent weeks advising the Trump team. He's expected to play a key role in representing the interests of the tech industry on regulatory and policy matters in Washington, along with a small group of Conservatives from his circle.
Facebook declined to comment whether it would attend next week's tech roundtable. Thiel sits on the Board of the giant social network.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
No comments:
Post a Comment