Jeff Bezos congratulates Trump on ‘extraordinary’ comeback, wishes him success in uniting America

by · GeekWire
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. (GeekWire File Photo / Kevin Lisota)

Jeff Bezos wasted no time in sending his good wishes to President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday morning, hours after Trump’s stunning victory against Vice President Kamala Harris.

In a rare post on X, the Amazon founder offered “big congratulations to our 45th and now 47th President on an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory.” Bezos went on to wish Trump “all success in leading and uniting the America we all love.”

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy added his own congratulations, telling Trump on X that Amazon was looking forward to working with Trump and his administration “on issues important to our customers, employees, communities, and country.”

The post was Bezos’ first on X since July 13, when he reacted to the assassination attempt on Trump while the Republican candidate was campaigning in Pennsylvania this summer.

It’s been a whirlwind end to the campaign season for Bezos, who inserted himself into the vitriol around the contest between Trump and Harris when he ended The Washington Post’s tradition of endorsing presidential candidates just 11 days before election day.

Bezos, who bought the Post in 2013, reportedly spiked a planned endorsement of Harris in favor of endorsing no one, sparking a staff and subscriber backlash at the newspaper. On Oct. 28, he wrote that his decision was not based on any quid pro quo with Trump.

With a net worth of $221 billion, Bezos is the second richest person in the world behind Elon Musk, the owner of the social media platform Bezos used to reach out to Trump. Musk is also the founder of SpaceX, a rival to Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture.

Musk emerged as a leading backer of Trump, through his America PAC political group, during the campaign against Harris. Tuesday night he said Trump’s win was just the start of his political ambitions and that he plans to keep fighting for candidates in upcoming elections and the midterms.

Trump called Musk “a new star.”

Bezos is still chairman of Amazon, which is facing a landmark U.S. antitrust lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission, which accuses the tech giant of leveraging its monopoly power using “anticompetitive and unfair strategies” that “stop rivals and sellers from lowering prices, degrade quality for shoppers, overcharge sellers, stifle innovation, and prevent rivals from fairly competing.”

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